商务英语综合教程上册课件刘玉玲主编 ISBN9787810789844Unit 9 Climate Change Hot under the Collar.ppt

Unit Nine Introduction Tony Blair became the Leader of the Labour Party in July 1994 following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith. Under Blairs leadership the party abandoned many decades-old policy goals… Text 1 Britain has had an easy ride on cutting carbon emissions. Not any more. 2 One of the Labor Partys many transformations during Tony Blairs leadership was its conversion to environmentalism. A party with its roots in dirty, heavy industry such as coal-mines and blast-furnaces presented itself as an eco-friendly guardian of the planets future. The most visible form of this was a commitment, in Labours 1997 manifesto, to cut 20% off British greenhouse-gas emissions by 2010 compared with their 1990 levels. That went above and beyond the 12.5% required by the Kyoto treaty. 10 Mr. Blairs domestic reputation is not the only thing at stake. He has been using Britains presidency of the G8 rich nations club to harangue other global leaders on the need for a successor treaty to Kyoto. Preliminary discussions are due to begin later this month at a summit in Montreal. If Mr. Blair cannot present a plausible plan to meet his domestic goals, he will be robbed of international credibility. 11 That would be a blow for the prime minister, who is keen to play a part in the delicate negotiations for a new treaty. Besides, a lack of progress in the talks (which could outlast Mr. Blairs premiership) would make it harder for him to impose the policies he needs to defend his domestic targets. Businesses will object to strict regulations without the prospect of their international competitors in America, China and India knuckling under. And while the public claims to be worried about climate change, its concern runs only so deep. A recent poll from the Stockholm Network, a group of European think-tanks, found that while 94% of Britons thought climate change was important, 62% put economic growth before c