Quotes & Support
Political support for C&C
As climate change has become a hot political issue, support for Contraction & Convergence has grown. Politicians worldwide are realising the lack of feasible alternatives.
Who supports Contraction & Convergence? Within the UK, five out of the main seven UK political parties have voiced their support for Contraction & Convergence. More than half the total number of MPs supports the proposal, and there is a Private Members’ Bill in Parliament at the moment seeking to put Contraction & Convergence on the statute books.
Even Tony Blair has expressed his support for Contraction & Convergence, saying in October 1998 that:
“In the fight against climate change, the Contraction & Convergence proposal makes an important contribution to the debate on how we achieve long-term climate stability, taking account of the principles of equity and sustainability.”
Contraction & Convergence was the first recommendation of the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution’s report on climate change in 2000. The German government’s Advisory Council on Global Change has also adopted Contraction & Convergence, and the European Parliament passed a Contraction & Convergence resolution in 1998.
Internationally, the Contraction & Convergence model was introduced to the Conference of the Parties in 1995 by the Indian government, and subsequently adopted and tabled by the Africa Group of Nations in August 1997. It was also accepted by the US negotiators at the COP as a necessary precondition for global emissions trading.
See for yourself! Here are some statements of endorsement for C&C:
Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury:
“Contraction & Convergence appears utopian only if we refuse to contemplate the alternatives honestly.”
UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, April 2005:
“The UK government should commit itself to Contraction & Convergence as the framework within which future international agreements to tackle climate change are negotiated; and it should actively seek to engage support for this positions in advance of the next Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC. We do not see any credible alternative and none was suggested during our enquiry.”
Environmentalist Mayer Hillman:
“A rational, brilliant and simple means of reaching a just global agreement on emission reductions.”
World Disasters Report 2000, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies:
“Any political solution to climate change will need to be based on reductions in emissions, otherwise known as contraction. As the climate is owned by no-one and needed by everyone, we will also have to move towards equally sharing the atmosphere, known as convergence. Collective survival depends on addressing both.”
Tearfund:
“Global, long-term, effective and importantly – equitable.”
New Statesman:
“The logic is compelling.”
“A formula for future global emissions that could, without exaggeration, save the world.”
Indian Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, COP-8 2002:
“We do not believe that the ethos of democracy can support any norm other than equal per capita rights to global environmental resources.”
Congressman John Porter, Chair, GLOBE USA:
“The only proposal so far which is global, equitable and growth-oriented.”
Heinrich Böll Foundation:
“Combines ecology and equity most elegantly.”
Environmentalist John Houghton:
“Elegance and simple logic.”
John Ritch, World Nuclear Association:
“I not only support the Contraction & Convergence, I find it inconceivable that we will avert climate catastrophe without a regime built on some variation of this approach.”
Ed Mayo, New Economics Foundation:
“No less than the logical starting point for any sustainable future.”
Rungano Karimanzira, Chair, Africa Group, COP:
“A new economic paradigm for the twenty first century and beyond.”
David Miliband, Secretary of State for Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
“One of my first parliamentary questions as a callow backbencher was about contraction and convergence [C&C – the proposition that regions with high per capita carbon emissions must contract them progressively to converge with those of current low emitters at a level that is globally sustainable]. I think any international agreement is going to have those principles at its heart – shared responsibility, equitable burden-sharing. But for the
“Contraction & Convergence is a beautiful model.”
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