Blair to lead global climate change team

LONDON: Former British premier Tony Blair is leading a team of international environment experts backed by the United States and the United Nations and charged with securing a global climate change deal, he told The Guardian on Friday.

“There is a deadlock. Everyone is agreed where we want to get to, but unless you agree on the framework for getting there, you are left with a process and not a result,” Blair told the newspaper.

Blair, who stepped down as prime minister last year after 10 years in power, said he thought he could prepare a framework for a 50 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2050, but added that it was important to agree on a deal that included the US and China soon.

“The fact of the matter is that if we do not take substantial action over the next two years, then by 2020 we will (be) thinking seriously about adaptation rather than prevention,” he said, adding that he had the backing of the White House, the UN and Europe.

The former prime minister’s team includes several international experts on climate change and will present an interim report in June, and will then list the differences remaining between major countries in the summer of 2009.