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Most viewed in Environment
Speaking out on climate change
Barack Obama, US president
“Developed countries, like my own, have a historic responsibility to take the lead...and I know that in the past the United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities, so let me be clear, those days are over.”
Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general
“This is politically and morally [an] imperative and historic responsibility...for the future of humanity, even for the future of the planet Earth.”
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
“Generally this is a careful but useful step forward toward Copenhagen...I'm still confident that the deal can be done [in Copenhagen].”
José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president
“The road to Copenhagen and a global deal still remains steep and rocky, and the last stretch is always the most difficult. But the scene is now set for the global deal we must reach in Copenhagen in December, and today we have provided our negotiators with a clear yardstick for the deal.”
Key points from the declaration of leaders of the Major Economies Forum
* The increase in global average temperatures should be limited to 2ºC above pre-industrial levels.
* Countries should prepare low-carbon growth plans. Developed countries agreed to take the lead by making “robust” reductions in the mid-term, while developing countries are to make a “meaningful deviation” from business as usual emissions.
* Financial help for poor countries will be needed. Money for emission reductions and adaptation to climate change must be “scaled up urgently and substantially”.
* A global partnership to promote low-carbon technologies will be created. Public sector investment in research, development and demonstration of technologies will be doubled by 2015. Individual countries' efforts to lead on solar energy, smart grids, carbon capture and storage, low-emissions coal, vehicles, high efficiency and bio-energy were welcomed.
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