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Newsroom & speeches
30 October 2007
Thank you. It is a great pleasure to be here and to be able to spend some time with you at the launch of the initiative that we see here today, so thank you for the invitation.
The Clean Development Mechanism in Africa is clearly at a period where there is tremendous potential for growth, as only around 2% of CDM registered projects so far have gone to Africa. Manny was talking a bit earlier about some of the criticisms that have emerged with some of the initial projects in the early stages, and we know that if the CDM is to do the work for which it is intended, and if we are to support it appropriately, so we can cut carbon emissions and still have development which is essential, then we have to have an innovative second stage of the CDM and that is why being here to support CEF and its innovative approach to the market today is so important.
We have seen a year ago today the publication of the Stern Review which demonstrated what the economics of climate change are, and particularly highlighted that all countries need to take action on global greenhouse gas emissions if we are to be successful in limiting the threat of dangerous climate change. But Stern also demonstrated, and I think we have too much doom and gloom attitude when we think about climate change, it also demonstrated that if we take action in a timely fashion and we use not only political agreements and frameworks, such as Kyoto which are essential, but also if we can also manage to stimulate our own innovation and ingenuity, if we can make new investments in a timely fashion then actually we can deal with the challenges of climate change in a way that is affordable. And it demonstrates in its economic analysis that it is actually much less affordable to leave action until later and therefore those who get in to this area of market development faster are likely to be in a better situation to exploit and prosper in the world that will emerge as we try to meet the challenges presented to us, economic, technological, developmental, social, as we try to meet those challenges in a post-Kyoto scenario.
So we have seen over the last few years the growth of the developing international carbon market, and I am quite proud to say that actually its centre is here, and is why we welcome the launch that CEF have initiated here today in the City of London which I believe is the centre of a growing carbon market, now worth we think about $30billion, only the very start of its potential. And the CDM itself is an essential contribution to a global effort as part of an international carbon market, and overcoming the barriers to develop more projects in Africa will be key to ensuring that there is continuing investment in carbon technology in the region so we can achieve this double good of ensuring that the quite reasonable aspirations of Africa to develop are not constrained, so it can develop in a more sustainable and reasonable way and that is important.
The UK is a leading participant in the CDM, we have about 40% so far of the investment in CDM projects and we are very committed to it. We are also strongly committed to the Nairobi Framework and we support development in Africa for developing its full potential, so this really is an extremely important event for us tonight because it hits all of the things that we care most about, and that is happening in the financial district which is at the centre of creating the carbon market that will become an increasingly important feature of our world.
It is focused on development in Africa which is one of the most key priorities and is also focused on doing this in a sustainable way which is partly why I am here, to support all of you, to wish you well in your projects but also to encourage those of you that are here to listen to the presentations tonight to engage positively with this initiative. We think there is a lot of good to be got out of it, and perhaps in some ways we can then move away from some of the initial start of the CDM which has caused some scepticism, because we know that the CDM is a proper way of ensuring that those countries that are already developed can actually invest in the transfer of clean technologies to ensure that the legitimate aspirations of those that wish to develop can actually be realised with less damage to our world. So good luck everyone with it. I hope those of you here considering whether to get involved will have a positive attitude. Thank you very much for coming.
