British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday said money will be the key to saving the planet from catastrophic changes to its climate.
“People rightly say: If we can provide the finance to save our banks from the bankers, we can, with the right financial support, save the planet from those forces that would destroy it,” Brown told the United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen.
Brown said developed countries should commit to “immediate finance for developing countries starting from January 2010 of $10 billion annually by 2012.” He estimated long-term financing requirements at $100 billion per year by 2020.
The British premier also called for “transparency” in the way such funds should be handled.
In his speech to the plenary, he called for a “legally binding” instrument aimed at keeping average global temperatures from rising “by no more than 2 degrees” centigrade by 2050.
