LONDON, Oct. 30, 2006
U.K. Report: Warming Will Destroy Economy
Enlisting Al Gore, Blair Calls For 'Decisive Action' On Climate Change
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Play CBS Video Video PM Blair On Global Warming CBS News RAW: British Prime Minister Tony Blair explained a report regarding climate change and global warming. He called for "bold and decisive action" to keep things in check.
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Video Global Warming's Upside After a dozen of the hottest summers on record, the English wine country is flourishing. Mark Phillips reports that for some, global warming is a good thing.
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Video Richard Branson's Donation Only On The Web: British businessman Richard Branson talks to Katie Couric about his $3 billion donation to find alternative energy sources in the fight against global warming.
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(AP / CBS)
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Interactive Global Warming The greenhouse effect, a look at the Kyoto Protocol and a history of the Earth's climate.
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Interactive Eye On The Environment Find out how global warming, air pollution and alternative forms of energy impact our world.
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Fast Facts United Kingdom Learn about the people, economy and history.
Britain hired former Vice President Al Gore, who has emerged as a powerful environmental spokesman since his defeat in the 2000 presidential election, to advise the government on climate change — a clear indication of Prime Minister Tony Blair's dissatisfaction with current U.S. policy.
Blair, President Bush's top ally in the Iraq war, said unabated climate change would eventually cost the world between 5 percent and 20 percent of global gross domestic product each year. He called for "bold and decisive action" to cut carbon emissions and stem the worst of the temperature rise.
"It is not in doubt that, if the science is right, the consequences for our planet are literally disastrous," he said. "This disaster is not set to happen in some science fiction future many years ahead, but in our lifetime."
The report emphasized that global warming can only be fought with the cooperation of major countries such as the United States and China, and represents a huge contrast to the Bush administration's wait-and-see global warming policies.
Sir Nicholas Stern, the senior government economist who wrote the report, said that acting now to cut greenhouse gas emissions would cost about 1 percent of global GDP each year. He recommended a "low-carbon global economy" through measures including taxation, regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon trading.
Pay now or pay a lot more later — that's the report's stark conclusion, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.
President Bush kept America — by far the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming — out of the Kyoto international treaty to reduce greenhouse gases, saying the pact would harm the U.S. economy. The international agreement was reached in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 and expires in 2012.
Blair made his displeasure with U.S. environmental policy clear when he signed an agreement this year with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to develop new technologies to combat the problem. The measure imposed the first emissions cap in the United States on utilities, refineries and manufacturing plants in a bid to curb the gases that scientists blame for warming the Earth.
The prime minister and the report also said that no matter what Britain, the United States and Japan do, the battle against global warming cannot succeed without deciding when and how to control the greenhouse gas emissions by such fast-industrializing giants as China and India.
Stern's 700-page report said evidence showed "that ignoring climate change will eventually damage economic growth."
"Our actions over the coming decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, later in this century and in the next, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century," he said.
The British hope this new economic argument can do what environmental arguments haven't: convince skeptical governments in China and the United States to act now as well, reports Phillips.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 52 CommentsAs far as I know, the carbon and SO2 emmissions are artificially transformed into acids H2co3 and H2so4 by sprinkling a liquid soap inside all the factories "chimneys" high above the ground. The acids then go down through an outlet pipe together with the soap bubles to the accumulation tank and then they can be used for technical purposes or demolished. If instead of the soap bubles to place into the ascending SO2/CO2 hollow plastic spheres like ping-pong balls the balls would be dancing within them somewhat like they do inside a lottery drum. Only they should be molded from special plastic in a special way. Then if to sprinkle some water on their surface with the aim to increase the surface of contact for H2o and Co2/so2 then the durable plastic spheres would work more efficently then short life soap bubles. The technology of molding such hollow plastic spheres was patented in 1960-es in London, Great Britain by Mr. Leif Holmberg from Denmark (dead now). The method proved to be very sufficient. With kind respect, Vladimir.
I'm not familiar with this science that says global warming will become global cooling, interesting if reasonable and not hype. But the naive interpretation is that global warming will be warming the climate, not cooling it, and generally an earth with more CO2 and warmer is a more fertile and pleasant earth for biology and life. Probably also wetter on land, it sounds like a pretty good climate. Like Hawaii everywhere, warm, nice, wet, pleasant and green. We can go back to a more idyllic human lifestyle perhaps, or who knows what, but generally change is good -- go with it, lose the fear.
As some economist said, in the long run everyone is dead anyway. For now, hey, greenery, heat, like one big Miami! alright!
..would you not agree that we should err on the side of caution this time around when it comes to global warming?..after all there is just a "little" bit more evidence that global warming is indeed happening and is being caused by us and if indeed true presents atleast as great a threat
All I am saying is that gw is using any and all means he can to keep the country stirred up in a lather of fear so he can keep control of congress. Because he knows *** well that if he loses one or both houses of congress, his free ride is over and he will be answering a lot of uncomfortable questions.
His political survival is at stake here, not to mention his legacy. Look through the BS. It is all smoke and mirrors.
Now, Dubya is playing the same card again. The UN Atomic Energy agency says they don't. And they are the ones over there poking around. Not anyone Bush has sent.
So I am just trying to say that you are letting Dubya play the same fear card again. It's all about power and who stays in power. If he can frighten enough people waving the nuclear threat to keep Rep in power, he will.
Jesus Christ! Stop shaking like a leaf and imagining the worse. If you ever had drills where you had to hide under your desk when you were in grade school, or had neighbors building bomb shelters you would know a lot more about being afraid.
Celeseses,
Who are you talking too and what are you talking about??
Are you saying your worryed about a few degree drop in temperture over the next 100 or so years, but arent worried about a psycho evil dictator with nuclear weapons? I wish you were the spokes mouth for the dems you would hand the election over the republicans.
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