Climate change is one of the most urgent challenges facing our generation. There is now compelling evidence from across the international scientific community that the changing global climate is directly attributable to human causes. It follows that mitigating the negative effects of climate change also requires human action. And failure to act now could be catastrophic. So it is not surprising that promoting global action to tackle climate change is a key priority for the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and its world-wide network of Embassies. The British Embassy in Riga is also playing its part.

Working with partners in Latvia on the issues of energy security in Europe and building awareness of the problem of climate change are among the priorities for the British Embassy in Riga.

The Embassy maintains close contact with the Latvian Ministry of the Environment and other responsible officials, briefing on the recent developments and policies in the UK and looking for areas of joint interest. It has to be noted that the British Council office in Latvia are also implementing a project Challenge Europe with focus on climate change.

Since 2007, the British Embassy has implemented a number of projects dealing with climate change and energy security: a Wilton Park conference on energy security, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Latvia and 2 public information projects: the Green Triathlon, 2007 and a Climate change poster exhibition, 2007-2008.

In 2008, a group of Latvian experts interested in British innovation in carbon capture and storage – a potentially crucial element in the global emissions reduction plan, visited the UK, as did Latvian journalists to study how climate change is being tackled – and reported – in the UK. The flagship event took place in Riga on 16 October on the economic benefits to business of adopting greening policies. Our partners were the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Carbon Trust from the UK and the Latvian Ministry of Environment and the Federation of Latvian Employers.

A Climate Change event for businessmen is also planned for 2009.