Swedish PM statement

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt gave out a statement on behalf of the EU and its member states saying that the first UN conference on the environment was held in Stockholm in 1972. At the conference Indias PM Indira Gandhi at the time raised the question, Are not poverty and need the greatest polluters? Mrs Gandhi confronted the world with the fact that poverty is both the major cause and consequence of environmental degradation.

He said the world has come a long way from 1972 but we have not been able to respond to that challenge. Hunger disease and poverty will never be defeated in a world where global warming goes above 2 degrees celsius. Science is clear he said, billions of people out of poverty. Let us answer Mrs Gandhi's question here in Copenhagen! Let Copenhagen not be just about restrictions and constraints but about sustainable development, green growth and possibilities!

Let us be clear, the EU has come here to seal the deal. Let us not leave Copenhagen before we have reached an agreement that is ambitious, global and comprehensive.

Firstly the Copenhagen agreement must be ambitious and enable us to satay below 2 degrees celsius. Secondly the Copenhagen agreement needs to provide for a substantial scaling up of financial support for developing countries. Thirdly the agreement needs to be global encompassing all nations of the world and comprehensive by covering all the Bali building blocks and balanced by being legally binding for all.

Let this be the place to take the decisive step to tackle the climate challenge. We are citizens of this incredibly beautiful planet and therefore we have to make this together.

However his voice could not be heard among the majority of developed nations who ignored what he said.