It is 'essential' that every country comes to the Copenhagen climate change conference next month with commitments for action, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said during a roundtable discussion.

 

He told journalists from South American media organisations that the UK was going all out over the next few weeks to get an ambitious, fair and effective deal at Copenhagen to tackle climate change.

 

Asked by Graciela Iglesias-Rogers from La Nacion whether Copenhagen was 'dead', Mr Miliband said Copenhagen must deliver a comprehensive politically binding agreement and also set out a very clear timetable to a legally binding treaty. He acknowledged that world leaders had agreed the negotiations would not culminate with a legally-binding treaty.

 

'It is important that there is an ambitious political agreement which does provide the basis for its commitments to be translated into a treaty.' he said.

 

He said that the three years of preparation that gone into the conference meant that Copenhagen would be about 'more than principles' and instead about commitments, action, and numbers on issues such as funding and technology that he said had stood in the way of past agreements.

 

'I think it is essential that every country comes to Copenhagen with a commitment of its own either for binding emissions reductions or, in the case of developing countries, deviations from business as usual,' he said.

 

'I don't think it is just a political management game but it is about where there is a real agreement. This summit hangs in the balance and I say that very clearly. We are arguing for ambitious conclusions: political agreement that can be translated into a treaty with the hard bargaining done in Copenhagen.'

 

Asked by Vytas Rudavicius of Televisa of Mexico whether the world had adopted 'plan B', Mr Miliband said the UK has consistently argued for 'plan A' which he described as an ambitious, effective and fair deal, which 'has to be a political agreement that is translated into a legal treaty.'

 

He said that an ambitious agreement in Copenhagen would send signals to businesses that were seeking to make investment decisions based on assumption of the carbon price and on 'how serious governments are on this issue'. He added: 'I think we still have a lot to play for. We can't march everyone up to the top of the hill and march them down again.'

 

Daniela Milanese of Grupo Estado of Brazil asked whether he agreed with President Lula's warning of the danger of G2 between the US and China. The Foreign Secretary said: 'President Lula was right to say that all countries need to engage and he called on all leaders to come to Copenhagen which is a good suggestion.'

 

He said that if Europe and Latin America failed to recognise the possibility of a G2 in 30 years' time, they would be making a 'big mistake'. 'It is a very good that President Obama is putting so much effort into his relationship with China as I think that engaging with China is a very good thing to do,' he said.

 

'But we need to build up European and other voices to make sure that this is a multipolar world and not a bipolar world. Europe is the largest single market in the world and it has the largest emissions reduction commitments of any part of the world.'

 

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