14 DAY TRIAL // Gordon Brown, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, has recently proposed the creation of a £60-billion help fund, money that is to be distributed among Third-World nations. The aid would help less developed countries deal with the greenhouse gas emissions cuts proposed by the United Nations, while at the same time allowing them to grow economically. The move has the potential to finally move climate change talks forward, at this year's UN global warming meeting, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, the BBC News informs.
At this point, developing nations are facing a double challenge. First, they have to get the money they need to help them combat the effects of global warming, such as more droughts and floods, more adverse weather phenomena, impaired food and energy production, and so on. Secondly, they need money to invest in new, clean energy technologies, such as wind farms, solar power plants, biofuel stations, and others. The UK has shown through Brown's proposal the first sign of interest from Western-World nations, in breaking the stalemate around the talks.
“Over recent years, the world has woken to the reality of climate change. But the fact that is that we have not yet joined together to act against it. Copenhagen must be the moment we do so. If we act now, act together and act with vision and resolve, success at Copenhagen is within reach,” the Prime Minister said during a recent conference held in London. “Copenhagen is twenty-three weeks away. When historians look back on this critical moment, let them say, not that we were the generation that failed our children; but that we had the courage, and the will, to succeed.”
All rich nations should contribute to this fund, Brown added. The UK would, of course, pay its “fair share,” and the money should be collected from funds obtained by selling carbon permits in the developed world. Additional funding could be secured from existing Third-World air programs, although the Prime Minister did say that money from these funds should only be taken in limited amounts, or not at all, if possible.
The UK is the leading nation of the world, as far as carbon dioxide emissions go. By 2050, the country has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas output by more than 80 percent, and said that other states should do the same. Moreover, the UK is the first nation in the world to make these decisions legally binding, by passing legislation that regulates the cuts.