Kathy's top interview: Ambassador of UK
For the detailed information, see Ed 146 of ChinaTimes or the website in Chinese.
The British Embassy in The Hague
The Embassy is responsible for delivering the FCO’s and British Government’s policy goals in the Netherlands as well as services that support the British economy. The Embassy is also responsible for managing the UK’s relationship with a number of important international institutions based in The Hague.
On 7 February 2011 the British Embassy in The Hague hosted the Benelux – UK Climate Change Act Seminar. The Seminar served as a very useful and informative platform to representatives from business, Government and NGOs to engage and discuss the merits and the challenges of climate legislation and the future of our EU energy infrastructure. An impressive set of speakers, including the Director of AECOM, the senior political campaigner of Friends of the Earth, and a representative from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, took the floor and captured the attention of the delegates.
The importance of acting on climate change was underlined by Lord Oxburgh, former chairman of Shell UK, and currently member of Globe International. ‘In spite of some people commenting to the contrary, doing something about climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions have to be priority.’ He furthermore commented that the dynamics of international climate change politics may change considerably and possibly be based on a different footing. ‘With the difficulties of climate legislation in the US, China now looks as if it may emerge as the world’s strongest advocate for climate change action’. Pieter van Geel, former Dutch State Secretary for the Environment addressed the delegates in his capacity as chairman of the Advisory Board of Smart Energy for Europe Platform (SEFEP). He underlined the need for well functioning European energy infrastructure if the EU Member States are serious about meeting their reduction and renewables targets for 2050. The afternoon speakers illustrated that the Netherlands and UK Government as well as the private sector see opportunities to follow up on Mr. van Geel’s call. The Seminar also showed that a continued dialogue between the public and the private sector is essential to ensure that companies and Government remain in a position to commit to the required future investments.
The Benelux – UK Climate Change Act Seminar is part of a wider series of events organised by British Embassies in Europe and across the world. The Benelux Network is very active in the field of promoting solutions to climate change and was also involved in setting up the first CCS Seminar for the Regions in July 2010.
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