Britain and California are to work together on reducing greenhouse gases and promoting low carbon technologies. The Blair - Schwarzenegger deal came at a meeting in Long Beach organised by Steve Howard, CEO of the Climate Group, an international charity working to cut greenhouse gas emissions and Lord Browne, chairman of BP. Virgin's Sir Richard Branson was also present. A mission statement said that Britain and California would "Work together and commit to build upon current efforts, share experiences, find new solutions and work to educate the public on the need for aggressive action to address climate change and promote energy diversity." They will also determine whether they could co-operate on an emissions trading scheme.
The Government have denied that they are deliberately side-stepping the US Government, but it would appear the pact is designed to get round Republican objections to cutting carbon emissions. Whereas President Bush withdrew from the Kyoto agreement on global warming in 2001, Mr Schwarzenegger has set out an ambitious climate change programme for California, acting on fears that water shortages and heatwaves will destroy the state's economy. In June last year, the Californian Government committed to cutting emissions back to 2000 levels by 2010, a fall of 59 million tonnes and down to 1990 levels by 2020, a fall of 145 million tonnes.
