Brussels, 22/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - “Climate protection is not deindustrialisation but reindustrialisation, doing things smarter and more efficiently”, was the view highlighted by Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, speaking at the Zero Emission Conference held in Oslo on 21 November. That same day, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) warned that the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new high in 2010 and that the rate of increase has accelerated. According to the latest WMO bulletin on greenhouse gases - the seventh since 2004 - radiative forcing, the warming effect on the world's climate system, increased 29% between 1990 and 2010, with CO2, the greenhouse gas caused by human activity, contributing to 80% of this increase.
The conference provided yet one more opportunity for the commissioner to state how urgent it is to move towards a low carbon economy in the interest of both climate and economy, and to slam those who invoke the economic crisis as a pretext to do nothing. Just one week from the global climate conference in Durban (COP 17, 28 November-9 December) - as Canada, Japan, Russia are still refusing a second period of commitment under the Kyoto Protocol until emerging countries also commit - Connie Hedegaard said: “Some people suggest environmental concerns and climate change have disappeared from the agenda because of the economic crisis that is currently hitting large parts of the world, and that climate change no longer occupies the minds of people. I think they couldn't be more wrong. (…) We need to act NOW - now, that we still have a choice, now, when the crisis is inviting us to look into new ways of economic growth. This is the right time to start making the transition to a climate-friendly, low-carbon economy. Green growth will create new businesses, new markets, new services - and with all of these come new jobs. This is precisely the way out of the economic crisis”.
Demolishing all the false notions, Hedegaard said that, for almost nine out of ten Europeans, climate change is one of the most serious problems facing the world, more serious than the economic crisis, and that, according to the latest report by the International Energy Agency, “delaying action is a false economy. For every dollar of investment in cleaner technology that is avoided before 2020, more than 4 times as much would need to be spent after 2020 to compensate for the increased emissions”.
NGOs say it is time to wake up. In response to the WMO report, NGOs also call on the international community to act. Andy Atkins, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth International, states: “Over recent years, we've been sleepwalking towards a climate disaster. It seems we've now broken into a sprint. The world must wake up to the enormous threat we all face and agree tough international action at next month's UN climate talks in South Africa. The wealthiest nations must take a lead by agreeing legally-binding cuts to wean their economies off gas, coal and oil - and providing funds for poorer countries to develop cleanly. The time for excuses is over as climate change is already starting to bite - it's time for real international leadership”. (AN/transl.jl)