With the Climate Change Summit opening in
, Ed Miliband, the UK Climate Change Secretary, said that critics who argue that climate change is not the result of human actions are “profoundly irresponsible”.
As negotiating teams from 192 countries gather in
, Miliband admitted that there was “further to go” on persuading climate change sceptics. Miliband told the BBC: “The overwhelming consensus of scientists across the world is that climate change is real and is man-made and is happening. The people who do somehow want to suggest that the science is in doubt are profoundly irresponsible. We know that carbon dioxide concentrations are the highest level in the atmosphere in 600,000 years. We also know from physicists that the CO2 effect when CO2 is emitted is that it traps the heat in the earth’s atmosphere and then warms the planet. That is very clear and not in dispute.
“This is not an observation or people just running models. This is a clear scientific effect people are talking about.” He called on the 100 heads of government and state expected in
on the final day of the talks to move quickly to reinforce an anticipated political deal with a full-fledged treaty, which would be made legally binding in international law within six months. He said that the central objective of the summit was to secure a political agreement to cap global emissions by 2020. “We are going for something very big. I don’t think it is guaranteed that we will succeed, but we will do everything we can in the next two weeks not just to get a deal, but to get a deal that is consistent with the science.”
