Wind News

Wednesday 23 December 2009

Gordon Brown claims the UK must be a global leader in greener technologies

Gordon Brown has called for the UK to become a global leader in the financing and development of renewable energy technologies including wind and tidal.

And, the Prime Minister has claimed that further action needs to be taken to secure an international climate change agreement and to improve global climate talks to avoid facing "deadlock" as was experienced in Copenhagen.

In a podcast recorded on Monday (December 21) after the Copenhagen climate change summit, Gordon Brown talked about the importance of future investment in renewables.

He said: "I am convinced that Britain's long term prosperity lies in leading the necessary transformation to a low carbon, greener future.

"We must become a global leader not just in financing greener technologies but in the development and manufacture of wind, tidal, nuclear and other low-carbon energy."

Mr Brown also commented on the outcome of Copenhagen - which has received heavy criticism for failing to secure a legally binding global climate change deal (see this NewEnergyFocus.com story).

He said: "This weekend the world came together in the first step towards a new alliance to overcome the enormous challenges of climate change.

"But, as you saw, the talks in Copenhagen were not easy. And, as they reached conclusion, I did fear the process would collapse and we would have no deal at all.

He added that the UK must learn lessons from Copenhagen: "Never again should we face the deadlock that threatened to pull down those talks. Never again should we let a global deal to move towards a greener future be held to ransom by only a handful of countries."