Can I welcome you to this launch of the Copenhagen manifesto.
Can I thank the diverse range of people that we have here: ambassadors from around the world who are in London – we're very grateful to you for being here today – NGOs, media and other stakeholders. I think we also have young people who are part of the “climate squad” and they're very welcome as well.
I'm going to hand over to the Prime Minister shortly. I just wanted to say something by way of background.
We wanted this at London Zoo, which has been the home of natural sciences for something like 180 years and is a fantastic setting, and we are very grateful to the zoo for having allowed us to come here today.
Now why are we launching a manifesto for the negotiations that are concluding in Copenhagen in December of this year?
There are number of reasons I want to draw attention to.
I think first of all, we recognise this is a make-or-break moment in the world of climate change.
We have new leadership in the United States in President Obama, we have China, and many other countries who are gathered here from the developing world, who recognise the scale of the challenge that we face and we believe this a moment when we have to seize on climate change.
These are no second chances and we can't afford not to succeed.
Secondly, I think there is a danger in these sorts of negotiations that they become simply the preserve of the negotiators and not the preserve of people. It is very important that these are not negotiations apart from people's lives, that these are negotiations where people understand the scale of the challenge that is faced.
That is why we are not only producing a manifesto that we are publishing today, but a leaflet that will be going out to thousands of public institutions around the country to raise people's awareness about the scale of the climate change threat, and also what the negotiations in Copenhagen are about.
Thirdly, this is a recognition – and the Prime Minister's presence here as an illustration of this – that this is an increasingly important priority of the whole government in the coming six months.
We have Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, here. Hilary published last week the Climate Impact Projections, drawing attention to the scale of what climate change could mean for Britain. I’m working very closely with him, and with many other ministers from around government. We have a Copenhagen “war room” in our department and we'll be ensuring that any minister who is travelling abroad has Copenhagen on their agenda.
Fourthly, I said earlier that this mustn't be the preserve of negotiators. Frankly I believe we need more of a public mobilisation than we have at the moment around this issue. It needs to be more on people’s radar. I pay tribute to all the NGOs gathered here and the campaigning that they have been doing but there's a lot more that we collectively – and I'm sure they would recognise this – that we need to do in the coming months to raise awareness so that there is pressure on governments all around the world.
Finally and most importantly ,we recognise that there is not enough ambition yet in the offers that have been put on the table and our publication of the manifesto today is a very clear sign of our recognition of this, and in Europe we want to raise our target from 20 to 30 percent, but countries across the world need to do more.
I want to thank the Prime Minister for coming here today. It is the job of negotiators to negotiate and it is the role of leaders to lead, and the Prime Minister has shown extraordinary leadership on a whole range of areas, including international development. I think it is fantastic that he will now be applying his leadership in the coming months to securing a global deal at Copenhagen – so Gordon thank you very much for coming here today we look forward to your remarks.