Blair touts energy efficiency, CCS and nuclear as key to climate deal

Tony Blair has today set out his vision for how to end the stand-off between developed and developing economies over the UN's climate change negotiations.

Speaking in Tokyo ahead of next month's G8 Summit, Blair said the report – Breaking the Climate Deadlock: A Global Deal for a Low Carbon Future – aimed to offer a "practical" roadmap for climate change negotations, which are expected to culminate in an international deal at the UN's Copenhagen summit in December 2009.

Noting that the report had been "drawn up by experts, but guided by a politician", Blair said that the aim was to offer a framework for cutting emissions that recognised both the long term need to mitigate climate change and the short term requirement to deliver economic growth.

"Long term, everyone accepts that the needs of economy and environment are in partnership," he observed. "Short term, there is a clear tension. And we live in the short term."

The report recommends that politicians ensure that any deal brokered in Copenhagen includes a high degree of flexibility that will allow targets to change in line with the latest climate science. "What this report proposes, is an approach to the Copenhagen agreement at the end of 2009 that does not attempt a deal that tries to resolve all issues up to 2050 or even 2030 or 2020," said Blair. "But instead begins a process that will then undergo revision and adjustment as our knowledge improves and the facts become clearer."

It also outlines 10 "building blocks" that must underpin any deal, including a global target of cutting emissions in half by 2050, an interim target date by when emissions must peak, commitments from both the developed and developing world, specific action in carbon intensive sectors such as energy and cement, clean tech financing agreements, funding for adaptation measures, and the development of a strategy to tackle deforestation.

Blair said that the significance of some of these "building blocks" was " often lost" on negotiators.

In particular, he noted that deforestation was responsible for around 20 per cent of the emissions problem and argued that "special focus" should be reserved for energy efficiency measures that could deliver a quarter of the required reduction in emissions.

He also argued that an agreement had to address the importance of carbon capture systems and nuclear power.

"The vast majority of new power stations in China and India will be coal-fired; not "may be coal-fired"; will be," said Blair. "So developing carbon capture and storage technology is not optional, it is literally of the essence. "

He added that "without at least some countries engaging in a substantial renaissance of nuclear power, it is hard to see how any global deal could work" .

Steve Howard, chief executive of The Climate Group, which co-ordinated the report said that any deal also had to deliver the right package of legislation and incentives to help accelerate the development of clean technologies. ”We believe that business can deliver clear green technology that we need – but only with the right government support," he said. "This is not truly a technology challenge – it is a political challenge."