British ambassador to Japan issues call to action on climate change at high-profile LRQA forum

The British Ambassador to Japan, Sir Graham Fry, has urged governments, business and private citizens to take immediate steps to combat global warming at a high-level forum on climate change hosted by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) in the shadow of the G8 summit.

Sir Graham, speaking in Tokyo at one of his final official appearances before retirement, said the G8 signatory countries and key emerging economies had agreed in Hokkaido this week on the importance of combating climate change, but that ''the next step is action''.

''Yes, there was progress at the G8 summit, but the next step is action, and there are various forms that can take,'' he told delegates at the LRQA forum at the British Embassy in Tokyo. ''I am optimistic about several technologies such as electric vehicles and new forms of solar power, as well as improved energy efficiency, but we need policies to speed up their adoption. We require a sense of urgency.''

The G8 leaders agreed in Hokkaido to reduce carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2050. But while the agreement was applauded as a starting point, consensus outside the G8 was that it fell short of the required action, particularly since it failed to include a start date against which reductions could be measured.

''The European Union has set mid-term targets for 2020 and I am hopeful that other countries will take that same step,'' said Sir Graham. ''Climate change is such a very important issue.''

Sir Graham was joined at the forum by a high-profile panel of climate change experts from Japan's ministry of the environment, the Tokyo municipal government, the World Wildlife Fund, HSBC, the private sector, academic institutions and LRQA's Dr Anne Marie Warris, Director, Climate Change.

Dr Warris said independents such as LRQA had a vital role to play in assuring the integrity of the carbon-measurement, reporting and offset process, giving the carbon-reduction sector the credibility it requires to sustain its momentum, ultimately to the public benefit.

''The key to reducing carbon emissions is the credibility and integrity of the reporting process and all those involved in it, which is why it is critical to include independent third parties in the verification process to give all stakeholders assurance,'' Dr Warris told delegates. ''Efforts to reduce or mitigate carbon emissions through initiatives such as Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism will stall if the process is seen to lack integrity, which is why our wider role outside our validation and verification activities must be to act as the guardians of credibility.''

Panellists from both the public and private sectors shared Sir Graham's sense of urgency and the need for legislation to speed up the creation of initiatives and the adoption of technology already available in many industrialised nations.

Verification and assessment services provider LRQA is a member of risk management firm Lloyd's Register Group that works to help improve its clients' quality, safety, environmental and business performance with expertise in railways, shipping, oil and gas, and other asset-based industries.