Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, argues in an interview with the FT (transcript below) that now is the time to kick-start investments in a green economy. The stimulus packages being rolled out around the world should focus on green measures, he says, if we are to avoid an unsustainably high-carbon future.

When in office, Tony Blair did much to raise climate change higher on the political agenda. In 2005, he made the topic the focus of the UK’s presidency of the European Union, and of the G8 summit, which the UK hosted. From that G8 summit came a new forum for international climate change discussions, the Gleneagles Dialogue. He used his relationship with George W Bush to try to persuade the US president to take a more conciliatory approach on climate change, especially with regard to carrying on negotiations on climate change under the auspices of the United Nations.