WELCOME BY MR LLUĹS MARIA DE PUIG,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

OPENING SPEECH FOR THE TWO EXHIBITIONS

ON CLIMATE CHANGE

(Strasbourg, Palais, Tuesday 29 September 2009, 1.00 pm)

Ladies and gentlemen,

Climate change is already touching every corner of the planet and every aspect of our lives. This afternoon we shall have the important parliamentary debate on climate change and political challenges lying ahead of us in the run up to the Copenhagen Summit. This is probably one of the most important questions we have to resolve if we were to save in time our planet, our own future and the future of our children.

To illustrate this, the British Council has launched a Zerocarboncity Campaign with an exhibition of powerful images illustrating the effects of climate change across the world.

Ten of the world’s top photographers have been asked to record the impacts of global warming in a diverse range of international locations. Some of the countries are literally disappearing under the waves. In others, health and food supply are threatened.

But the photographs also show that many communities north, south, east and west are tackling the root causes of climate change in their everyday lives. And many are realising secondary economic and social benefits as a result.

Yet this is not enough. To meet the challenge, we need vision and leadership at every level of society. The message offered by this powerful exhibition is that the future is now in all of our hands.

The exhibition also extends the emphasis beyond climate change impacts and inter-governmental negotiations - towards mitigation, adaptation, and practical measures that people can adopt.

Solutions to prevent the worst impacts of climate change already exist and many leaders have in fact found it profitable to implement them. The approaches they have deployed are diverse and innovative, ranging from energy efficiency and investment in renewable energy, through to motivating staff and cutting waste.

I therefore invite you to have a closer look also at the second exhibition entitled “Imagine energy future of our cities” by the Energy cities network. Nine cities across Europe have shown innovative action to improve energy efficiency, to increase the use of public transport, to cut greenhouse gas emissions, to raise awareness of the public and to educate.

In many cases, such visionary leadership has gained unexpected rewards. Just as climate change has implications for almost every aspect of our lives, so its solutions reach beyond the narrow confines of environmental protection to cover health, energy, security, employment, investment and innovation.

Let me conclude by a quote of Ramesh Singh, Chief Executive of Action Aid International :

“In a world where population is set to increase to around nine billion by 2050, the challenge of meeting food and water needs and other basic rights is going to be monumental. By reducing our own greenhouse gas emissions we can push the climate change frontline back – and not wait for it to come knocking on our own doors.”

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I now invite Mr John Prescott, our rapporteur, to say a few words about the Campaign “the New Earth Deal” which he has recently launched in the UK with the support of our Parliamentary Assembly.