They may not be fashionable but climate change and global poverty have never been more important, explains Miliband

Today Ed Miliband will outline Labour’s commitment to combating poverty, inequality and climate change.

As part of Labour’s plan, dubbed Action/2015, Miliband will explain that given the number of summits in the coming months – such as the one to renew the Millennium Development Goals in September and the Climate Change conference in December – this year will see the biggest amount of global action in over 50 years.

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In a speech at Queen’s Park Community School in London, Miliband will say a Labour government would attend these talks, with the aim of ending extreme global poverty (classed as people living on 82p or less a day) by 2030, addressing inequality and outlining clear development goals on climate change – including an international agreement that would mean the UK would decarbonise it’s electricity supply by 2030.

A Labour government would meet this goal on climate change by “pushing for global targets for reducing carbon emissions that rise every five years with regular reviews towards the long-term goal of what the science now tells us is necessary – zero net global emissions in the latter half of this century.”

Miliband will explain why these goals are so important:

“More than ever Britain and the world need leadership on tackling poverty, inequality and climate change.

“With the right Sustainable Development Goals, ours is the generation that can wipe out extreme poverty, reduce inequality and tackle climate change.

“Today marks the launch of action/2015. It is a campaign to make sure that governments and political parties listen to peoples’ hopes and dreams – to ensure our political ambition matches the scale of the challenge.

“In 2015, after the General Election here, the countries of the world will come together to agree two plans.

“The first plan aims to eradicate poverty over the next fifteen years. And the second will tackle climate change.

“These two plans affect all of us: everyone in this room, everyone across the world, and especially, everyone in your generation because they will help determine the world you will live in.

“They matter. And what the British government does at these conferences – what it does in your name – matters too.

“I know tackling climate change, global poverty and inequality are not as fashionable as they once were. But I also know they are more important than ever.

“For me, they are not luxury items in our programme for change. They are not part of a branding exercise. They go to the heart of my beliefs and the reason why I entered politics.

“This is about ensuring the next generation can do better than the last in this country and around the world.”

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