Source: RTCC
Date: 27/02/2014
Event: John Prescott: Britain's Climate Change Act is "the model that people can follow"
Attribution: RTCC
People:
Sophie Yeo: I'm here today speaking with Lord Prescott about the launch of GLOBE International's latest report. Can you tell me what has most impressed you about the latest report?
John Prescott: Well, first of all, there's twice as many countries as the last report - there was only 30-odd in it, now it's 66. The second thing is that all these countries are following through what was agreed at Doha, that they should all develop some kind of legislation - our climate - and they've done that. And thirdly, each one of them set up groups of parliamentarians, legislators, to actually look how they can bring forward, find an agreement about climate change. I don't think any other body has done such exploratory work as to what is going on. We heard about the moaners, now we're talking about the doers. Now this - this report is an excellent illustration to be launched in Washington, for all to see just how much is being done, on climate legislation.
Sophie Yeo: Which countries, do you think, are leading the way, in climate legislation?
John Prescott: Well, I think there's no doubt about that, to be honest, and that's Britain. Because we were the first to bring in - after the Kyoto Agreement, that I helped negotiate in 1997 - the first Climate Change Act introduced by the man who is the leader of our Opposition now, Mr. Miliband. And he introduced this Climate Change Act, and I think we're the only one with it. Others have got bits and pieces, but it is the model that people can follow. And they've started along this road, and we want an international agreement that all countries should actually have - a national climate legislation, which is enforced by their legislation.
Sophie Yeo: How much do you think can be agreed at a domestic level, in the absence of a top-down agreement?
John Prescott: Oh, quite a lot. But bear in mind, as this book shows, there are different roads to achieve what we all want to achieve, that is to reduce the amount of emissions, and to avoid the increase in temperature. That's the essential heart of trying to find a climate change agreement. But there are different ways, in which you are a very agriculture country, in some of the areas we go to, there is a different way to get to their emissions reduction. If you're in France, they have an awful lot of nuclear energy, so their emissions from energy programmes are quite different. But we all set targets, and we're all set to achieve it, but we want them to be enforced by statutory legislation, in a national framework. Now, that's quite different from Kyoto, where you have a global one. What we're trying to do is build on the national legislators, influencing the policy which collectively can be enforced in a global way.
Sophie Yeo: Do you think, as things stand at the moment, there is enough national legislation to provide a strong foundation to an international agreement?
John Prescott: Er, not yet - some are much further advanced than others. For example, when I was negotiating the Kyoto agreement in 1997, we set a target for Europe, for the European Union, and we said there'd be a cut of 8%. But not for every nation, because Spain and Portugal were much more behind than 15-odd years ago, 20 years ago, and so we had different targets. So each country will have its own way of achieving it, but it must commit itself to make its contribution, to reducing emissions, and then enforcing it through their own laws. Then I take the view there has to be an international body to see they're not cheating, and getting on with it.
Sophie Yeo: Do you you feel, in that case, that there's a gradual move, in the UN, towards a more bottom-up approach is a way forward, then?
John Prescott: Yes, I think that's generally agreed as one of the better ways of doing it. When we were negotiating in 1997, the Kyoto Agreement - that was only for industrial countries, and so we agreed a target, globally, and asked everybody to observe it, and put it into a legal framework. America didn't want to do it, Canada came out of it, Australia... So not every country applied it. But now I think they recognise that you've really got to get the agreement at the lower levels as well. So you work on the policies, nationally and domestically, and then collectively you ask "How does it help reduce global figures?" Because the things about emissions and gases - they don't stop at national borders, so we're all affected by it. Now that's why, collectively, even though there may be many different roads to achieve the reduction of emissions, they must all add up to making a global difference.
Sophie Yeo: You mention that the UK has some of the most ambitious legislation, at the moment. But you also wrote a letter to David Cameron in the Mirror on the weekend, saying that you were willing to work with him to create a more ambitious approach, domestically. Do you think that the current government is doing enough, at the international level, to secure this?
John Prescott: Well, I think they're a bit confused about it. I was saying, in the letter, Mr Cameron came in saying "Vote Blue and Get Green", and then he got on his huskies [sic] and said "I'm all for the greenest government ever". Since then, things have changed, domestically, quite a lot, that have affected the government. On the one hand, Mr Hague, who's the Foreign Office, who was celebrating only about a few weeks ago, the five-year plan, which all parties supported, on the climate legislation. Mr Cameron was actually saying in Parliament "We're going to do away with all this green crap". Now I don't think they can make up their mind - are they going to be the greenest government? But we have the piece of legislation, we can still lead the world on it, and I would say to Cameron and echoing the call of Mr Miliband, who said "Look, the flints [?] have shown us - we want more, much more political consensus to work together". I was following that up by suggesting Mr Cameron and I, perhaps, sit down and talk about the formula I've developed for that.
Sophie Yeo: Have you had a response?
John Prescott: No, yet, but it was a public thing - I suppose he's going to write anything after [?] - wait and see. But the man who has the direct responsibility in Foreign Office - we are dealing with foreign politics here - is Mr Hague, who is a strong supporter of it, so we're hopeful that's the way. I'm not so sure the Chancellor feels the same, because of these kind of taxes you have, if you like, to maintain a kind of good energy policy. And we've got ministers who are effectively saying they don't believe in the green - and they're in charge of the environment, and the energy minister's saying "Yes, I do". It's not a very good signal, so let's work together and find the common occurs [?], as we've had in the last few years, in supporting this special climate change legislation.