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Brown calls on retail sector for action on plastic bags
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that a "fourth technological revolution" is required to tackle the challenge of climate change.
The Prime Minister said he wants to meet with major supermarkets and the British Retail Consortium on how to 'eliminate' the use of plastic carrier bags.In his first major speech on climate change, Brown said the bags could be replaced 'altogether in favour of long-lasting and more sustainable alternatives'.
He said that the meeting would be 'a forum of the supermarkets, the British Retail Consortium and other interested groups to urgently assess together how, and
how quickly, this reduction can be achieved'.'All over the country campaigns are forming to get rid of disposable plastic bags - one of the most visible symbols of environmental waste,' he said.
'Every year in Britain, over 13 bln single-use carrier bags are distributed - over 10 bags a week for every household. In partnership with government the supermarkets have already committed to reduce the environmental impact of plastic bags by 25 pct over the next year.'
Brown, setting out his vision of a "new global low-carbon economy" said his government was prepared to consider increasing the target of a 60-per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050 to 80 per cent.
Speaking ahead of the international summit on climate change in Bali in December, Brown said that while global warming had been the product of many generations, "overcoming it must be the great project of this generation."
"I believe it will require no less than a fourth technological revolution. In the past the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, the microprocessor transformed not just technology, but the way our society has been organised and the way people live," said Brown.
Britain wanted to work with countries like the US and Japan to establish a new "funding framework", to help developing countries adjust to low carbon growth, adapt to climate change and tackle deforestation.
"While the richest countries have caused climate change it is the poorest who are already suffering its effects," Mr Brown said.
A post-Kyoto agreement on climate change, to be discussed in Bali, should include "binding emissions caps" for all developed countries.
According to Brown, new research shows that developed countries may have to reduce emissions by up to 80 per cent, a target he would consider if recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
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