In a speech marking the ten-year anniversary of the Prince of Wales Business and the Environment Programme yesterday, Tony Blair said he would use the UK's presidency of the G8 nations to push the issue of climate change up the world agenda. But to claim global leadership on the issue, he said Britain must demonstrate it first at home.
The Prime Minister said: “We need to develop the new green industrial revolution that develops the new technologies that can confront and overcome the challenge of climate change; and that above all can show us not that we can avoid changing our behaviour but we can change it in a way that is environmentally sustainable.
“Just as British know-how brought the railways and mass production to the world, so British scientists, innovators and business people can lead the world in ways to grow and develop sustainably. I am confident business will seize this opportunity. Cutting waste and saving energy could save billions of pounds each year,” he added.
Businesses
Mr Blair said that government “has to work with business to move forward faster”, and said a programme of new measures funded through the Landfill Tax would “help businesses cut waste and improve resource efficiency and competitiveness”.
He said that while a lot of attention on climate change would go to “big, industrial, energy users”, the work of retailers and their supply chains is also important to reduce the impacts of the goods and services they sell.
“I want to see the day when consumers can expect that environmental responsibility is as fundamental to the products they buy as health and safety is now,” he said.
The government will also be working with the construction industry to cut their waste in the wake of the report of the Sustainable Buildings Task Group (see letsrecycle.com story), he said.
Mr Blair explained: “With about 90% of production materials never part of the final product and 80% of products discarded after single use, the opportunities are clear.”
The Prime Minister's speech came a day after the leader of the Conservative Party, Michael Howard, said green taxes could be the way forward to improve the UK's environmental performance (see letsrecycle.com story).
Subscribe for free