Yesterday the First Minister took part in a majilis – a public audience held by the ruler Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi – with leaders and heads of state prior to taking his seat beside UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Premier Wen for the opening ceremony of the annual World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.
The First Minister spoke with the UN Secretary General, Premier Wen, President of Iceland Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of the UN General Assembly HE Nassir Abdulaziz Al Nasser, President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga and Prime Minister of South Korea Kim Hwang-sik, as well as other world leaders and opinion formers gathered to share their views on energy security, sustainability and the transition to a low carbon future.
The First Minister said: "Scotland’s energy challenges and champions make us a leader in the international sustainability debate. We are also world leaders in the transition to a low carbon economy and in particular the renewables revolution. It is only fitting that we should be part of the foremost annual meeting committed to finding solutions to the energy needs of the future."
The First Minister went on to address a panel discussion on Action Towards Universal Energy Access. He told the conference – which included delegates such as Todd Stern, US Special Envoy on Climate Change, Dr Georg B Schutte, State Secretary German; Timu Ivanov, Head of the Russian Energy Agency; Chad Holliday, Chairman of the Bank of America, Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy India and Martin Lidegaard, Energy Minister, Denmark – that Governments and Society had equal roles to play in the transition.
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And he again urged world leaders to make 2012 a 'Year of Climate Justice' ahead of the Rio +20 Climate Change Summit in June this year.
The First Minister first raised the issue of climate justice during a landmark speech to the influential Communist Central Party School in Beijing during his recent trip to China.
Climate justice was also raised by the First Minister and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a joint communiqué to the UNFCC meeting in Durban South Africa, at the end of 2011.
Mr Salmond said: "It is vitally important that, as the world moves towards economic recovery in 2012, we place climate justice at the very heart of the decisions we make on energy policy and economic and social development in the coming months.
"I believe we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enshrine this important principle – that economic development should be linked to human rights – in global energy policy, ensuring that countries and communities least able to cope with the extreme weather events climate change brings are not further disadvantaged.
"In the run up to the UN Rio+20 conference in Brazil in June and beyond, I am calling for climate justice to be made central to decisions taken by major countries on energy and development.
"Given that one of the themes of this year’s conference is linking the green economy to sustainable development, an important part of Scotland’s contribution to Rio+20 will be to champion climate justice."
The First Minister also called for binding targets for greenhouse gas reductions to provide long-term certainty for businesses and investors.
He said: "In Scotland, we have a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent, from 1990 levels, by 2050. And we also have an interim target of reducing emissions by 42 per cent by 2020 – the most ambitious target of its kind in the world.
"However as we move towards an international agreement on greenhouse gas reductions – and I very much hope that such an agreement will be achieved – we need to be able to ensure that politicians and governments are held to account in the short term, as well as in the medium and long term. The developed world, which is chiefly responsible for past greenhouse gas emissions, must surely take the lead in doing this."
Now in its fifth year, WFES is the world’s foremost annual meeting committed to promoting advancement of renewable energy. More than 26,000 attendees, including 3,000 delegates, 650 exhibiting companies and 20 national pavilions, are participating in the summit. The conference is a major lead-in to the Rio de Janeiro climate change conference in Brazil in June later this year.
(GK)
