OUR PLANET MAGAZINE
CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE CRYOSPHERE
3
reflections
by Achim Steiner,
UN Under-Secretary-General
and Executive Director of the UN
Environment Programme
UNEP promotes
environmentally sound practices
globally and in its own activities.
This magazine is printed on 00% recycled
paper, using vegetable -based inks and other
eco-friendly practices. Our distribution policy
aims to reduce UNEP's carbon footprint.
Nearly 130 years after Thomas Edison invented it, the world may be on the
brink of saying `thank you, and goodnight' to the incandescent electric light
bulb. Australia has announced a ban; Cuba, Venezuela and the European
Union are among those moving in the same direction. We should celebrate
its demise, for the world's billions of bulbs -- only five per cent efficient at
converting power into light -- cause massive emissions of carbon dioxide.
Of course, dealing with climate change requires governments to regulate on
emission reduction targets and promote more sustainable forms of energy
generation and consumption. But part of the solution also lies around the
corner at the local shop or supermarket, just as much as in international
conference halls. This message -- that the power to act rests as much with
consumers as with ministers and heads of state -- is emphasized by World
Environment Day, which this year is being hosted by the Government of
Norway in the Arctic city of Tromsų.
Phasing out energy wasting light bulbs is just one of many opportunities. A
report by UNEP's Sustainable Construction and Building Initiative, for example,
shows that, even by conservative estimates, buildings worldwide could cut
C0
2
emissions by 1.8 billion tonnes a year with the right mix of appropriate
government regulation, greater use of energy saving technologies and
behavioural change. A more aggressive energy efficiency policy might deliver
more than 2 billion tonnes -- almost three times the entire amount scheduled
to be cut under the Kyoto Protocol.
As the latest reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) make clear, climate change is a huge social, environmental and
economic challenge. The polar regions -- a central focus of World Environment
Day 2007 -- are especially vulnerable. In the Arctic, widespread melting of ice,
subsidence damage to buildings and infrastructure as their permafrost thaws,
coastal erosion, and the loss of traditional livelihoods are all set to intensify
unless greenhouse gas emissions are decisively cut.
On the positive side, combating climate change also presents a significant
opportunity to deliver on the many promises made by developed countries
to the developing world on finance and development, and to open new ways
of addressing wider environmental issues, from air pollution to deforestation.
Indeed , if we are to avoid dangerous climate change and ensure the stability
of Antarctica and the Arctic, let alone the rest of the world, we must marshal
our intellect and seek every solution -- from energy saving, to developing
cleaner and more efficient energy supplies, to managing land and vegetation
more sustainably.
The absolute need is for a global regime that delivers a fair, equitable and
meaningful emission reduction strategy after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol
expires. Industrialized nations must move first and furthest. The European
Union's target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020
should be applauded. It is time for others to pick up the gauntlet.
The rest of the industrialized world can no longer seek a reason for inaction in
the myth that the rapidly developing countries are not willing to contribute to
efforts to reduce CO
2
. Brazil, for example, is likely to bring down its greenhouse
gas emissions by as much as 14 per cent by 2020; with assistance, this could
rise to close to 30 per cent. It is a similar story in China and in some sectors of
the Indian economy, including transport.
Reductions of 60 to 80 per cent will eventually be needed fully to stabilize the
atmosphere. New technologies will be needed: if a strong, post-Kyoto regime
is in place, it will doubtless drive invention. But we can already do a lot to
save the polar ice caps, and the rest of the world, for the cost of a few Euros or
dollars, using technologies already in the shops.
The International Energy Agency estimates that a total, global switch to
compact fluorescent bulbs would deliver C02 savings of 470 million tonnes
in 2010 -- over half the scheduled reductions under the Kyoto Protocol. It is
time to consign the incandescent light bulb to the history books. This might
give us a chance to begin relegating dramatic polar melting and dangerous
climate change to the same pages.
Cover photo © John Wilkes Studio/Corbis. Melting ice is the hot topic for this edition of Our Planet. The theme of World
Environment Day 2007 emphasizes the importance of the world's cold environments, from the frozen poles to the tropical
ice caps of Africa and South America, and the Himalayan glaciers that sit at the roof of the world and provide meltwater to
a region that is home to nearly half the world's population. As these vital abodes of snow and ice melt, so will the hopes of
averting the disastrous consequences of runaway climate change.
china: climate change
and development - page 16