Despite a projected tripling of traffic in China over the next decade, the focus should be on low-carbon technology rather than sacrifice, says a report by Tony Blair's Climate Group
Traffic runs slowly as heavy haze hangs over Beijing, China. Photograph: Diego Azubel/EPA
Car ownership cannot be sacrificed in the fight against climate change, Tony Blair said today in Beijing, despite a projected tripling of traffic in China over the next decade.
In a report forecasting 150m cars on China's roads, which will produce a fifth of global exhaust emissions by 2020, the former UK prime minister said it was impractical to expect governments to curb sales.
"I think the way we consume has to change, but I think it is completely unrealistic to say to people you can't have a car, you can't use a motorbike. It is just not going to happen," he said.
Instead, he said, the focus should be on developing low-carbon technology and expanding the manufacturing and infrastructure for hybrid and electric vehicles.
He was talking at the launch of a new report by his Climate Group, which suggests the world's most populous nation is taking the lead in many fields of low-carbon industry.
While many environmentalists stress the need to curb consumption worldwide to deal with global warming, Blair emphasised change rather than sacrifice.
"We are changing the way we live not so that we don't consume and get the material benefits that people like ourselves actually enjoy, but we are changing it so that we do so in a way that is sustainable," he said.
Asking developing nations not to follow suit, he said, was unrealistic. "If you were to say to people in China that we in the west have grown our economies and consumed all this, but you must live in poverty for the sake of the planet, then they are going to say 'No, I am not'," he said.
for complete article:
2009-08-20
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/aug/20/tony-blair-cars-china
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