PM calls for a 'new, green industrial revolution'

Wed 15 September 2004 View all news

The Prime Minister has called for urgent action to meet the "world's greatest environmental challenge". He said that the threat of climate change is large and growing and called for the beginning of a "new, green industrial revolution."

In a speech delivered to business leaders in central London, the Prime Minister said that new policy initiatives to tackle climate change and other key environmental issues would be included in Defra's new five year programme and in a sustainable development strategy to be published early next year.

Mr Blair summarised the scientific evidence for climate change stating his belief that within his children's lifetime - and possibly his own - there could be major upheavals: "I do not mean a phenomenon causing problems of adjustment. I mean a challenge so far-reaching in its impact and irreversible in its destructive power, that it radically alters human existence."

The Prime Minister emphasised the need for urgency in dealing with the threat. He also called on business to seize the opportunities available: "It is those hi-tech, entrepreneurial businesses with the foresight and capability to tap into the UK's excellent science base that will succeed. Tackling climate change will take leadership, dynamism and commitment..."

Related Links

PM's full speech - No 10 website



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