Blair's climate change advisor voices doubts over Copenhagen

The expert who advises Tony Blair on climate change has voiced pessimism about the chances of a legally-binding treaty emerging from next month's UN summit in Copenhagen.

Speaking to this website, Mark Kenber said, however, there was "no reason" why EU leaders and heads of state could not agree on emission-reduction targets and finance to help developing countries deal with global warming.

Kenber, policy director at the international business and governmental NGO, the Climate Group, said, "On environmental grounds, the case is clear."

He hopes the EU will go beyond its commitment to cutting CO2 emissions by 20 per cent by the end of the next decade. He believes the EU should pledge to cut emissions by 30 per cent by 2020.

He also said that "80 per cent" of the technology needed to help achieve the targets by 2020 was "already in place."

This includes renewables, energy efficiency and via deforestatation.

Kenber, who has worked closely with Blair, the former UK prime minister, for the past two years on a joint initiative on climate change, said it was "generally accepted" that a legally-binding deal is unlikely to come out of Copenhagen.

But he added, "Even so, there is no reason why there cannot be a mandate for a final deal in the short term. We would argue that should be by the middle of next year.

"What should emerge from Copenhagen is a politically-binding agreement with the legal details being tied up later.

"The summit should, however, set targets and agree on finance for developing countries."

He said this would represent the "minimum" requirement for the summit to be deemed a success.

Kenber, who formerly worked for WWF International, was in Brussels for a series of meetings ahead of publication of his group's report on "breaking the climate deadlock."

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