Lord Hurd, Willie Paterson, Antje Schlamm & Gebhardt von Moltke

The GBF conference urged world leaders to ensure that ambitious targets on climate change did not remain empty rhetoric. Speakers said industrialised countries should set a good example for the developing world.

Chris Huhne MP, spokesman on environmental policy at Britain’s Liberal Democrat party, said, “There is an enormous threat to the sustainability of the planet. Taking measures to combat climate change has become more pressing because people see the impact, with a greater number of natural disasters like Katrina. These circumstances are not acceptable.”

Prof. Edward Krubasik, President of Orgalime, said, "We are looking at the first man-made global warming. 10,000 years ago we are in an ice age, then we have had periods of tropical forests and times when we were under water. We have actually now picked a relatively friendly climatic period to handle these threats to the planet’s survival."

Simon Tilford, Centre for European Reform, said, "We need leadership in public policy and more burden sharing. Governments are good at announcing targets, less good at deciding policies to meet them. The European Emissions Trading System (ETS) needs to be reformed. It encapsulates the gulf between announcements and reality."

GBF Awards 2007

Presented by Patricia Godfrey

Click here for awards speech

The Sustainability Debate

Dr. Ulrich Bez, Chief Executive Officer, Aston Martin

Toby Beazley  representing    Royston Maldoom

See review of 2006 conference on China, India and Europe