Posted on 10-6-2003
Industrial
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Ballooning
BONN, Germany, June 9, 2003 (ENS) - The emissions of
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from Europe, Japan,
the United States and other industrialized countries could grow
by 17 percent from 2000 to 2010, despite measures in place to
curb them, according to a new United Nations report. Greenhouse
gases blanket the Earth, trapping the Sun's heat close to the
planet's surface.
Based on projections provided by the governments themselves,
the report is under consideration at a two week meeting of the
UN Climate Change Convention's 190 member governments that opened
at the Maritim Hotel in Bonn Wednesday. It is intended to help
governments plan their future climate change strategies. These
findings clearly demonstrate that stronger and more creative
policies will be needed for accelerating the spread of climate
friendly technologies and persuading businesses, local governments
and citizens to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, said Joke
Waller Hunter, executive secretary of the UN Climate Change
Convention. Emissions rose in all major economic sectors, including
energy, transport, industry and agriculture. The exception was
waste management, where emissions declined slightly. The figures
do not include emissions and removals from land use change and
forestry.
Governments adopted a more comprehensive set of policies and
measures during 2000 and 2001 for addressing their emissions
such as emissions trading, carbon taxes and green certificate
trading. The greatest number of policies and measures are being
put to use in the energy sector.
The value of this report, an official UN document entitled "Compilation
and Synthesis of Third National Communications," has been
improved by the growing quantity, quality and timeliness of
the underlying national reports, called national communications,
the Climate Change Convention Secretariat says. Thirty-one third
national communications from developed countries have been submitted
along with 100 initial national communications from developing
countries. The emissions of Central and Eastern European countries
are starting to increase as their economies recover from early
and mid-1990s lows, says the report based on projections provided
by these governments.
Developed countries saw their combined emissions fall during
the 1990s, by three percent, due to a 37 percent decline in
the emissions of Central and Eastern European countries. Most
of the reductions in the emissions from developed countries
was due to the steep economic decline in the countries of eastern
Europe and the former USSR, resulting from the transition from
centrally planned to market economies and associated structural
changes, the secretariat says. In recent years most of these
countries have experienced appreciable economic growth which
is projected to lead to increased emissions in the future. Greenhouse
gas emissions in the highly industrialized countries as a whole
rose by eight percent from 1990 to 2000. According to the report,
the European Union's total emissions decreased by 3.5 percent
from 1990 to 2000, with individual member states varying between
a decrease of 19 percent and an increase of 35 percent. Emissions
increased in most other highly industrialized countries - five
percent in New Zealand, 11 percent in Japan, 14 percent in the
United States, 18 percent in Australia, and 20 percent in Canada.
With very few exceptions, the secretariat says, the reporting
governments underlined the importance of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol
in shaping their domestic climate policy responses. They said
their emissions reduction targets under the protocol are a first
step towards long term and continued emission reductions. This
international treaty under the UN Climate Change Convention
requires 37 industrialized countries to reduce their emission
of six greenhouse gases an average of 5.2 percent of 1990 emissions
during the five year period 2008-2012.
The protocol broke new ground with three innovative mechanisms
- joint implementation, the clean development mechanism (CDM)
and emissions trading. These aim to maximize the cost effectiveness
of climate change mitigation by allowing parties to the protocol
to pursue opportunities to cut emissions, or enhance carbon
sinks, more cheaply abroad than at home. The cost of curbing
emissions varies considerably from region to region as a result
of such differences as energy sources, energy efficiency and
waste management. The parties may maximize the effectiveness
of their funding for climate change mitigation by cutting emissions,
or increasing removals, where it is cheapest to do so, given
that the impact on the atmosphere is the same.
The Executive Board of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) met over the weekend, and for the first time,
considered methodologies needed for evaluating and monitoring
CDM projects. If such methodologies are approved, the first
CDM projects could be registered during the third quarter of
2003. At a side event on poverty and climate change Waller-Hunter
introduced a report entitled, "Poverty and climate change:
Reducing the vulnerability of the poor through adaptation."
World Bank representative Kristalina Georgieva said the report
offers adaptation measures that will assist developing countries
to deal with the impacts of climate change and reduce their
vulnerability.
Although the United States will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol
under President George W. Bush, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann
Veneman Friday announced that for the first time, the U.S. Department
of Agriculture will give consideration to management practices
that store carbon dioxide and reduce greenhouse gases in implementing
forest and agriculture conservation programs. Farmers,
ranchers and forestland owners can play a unique role in reducing
the greenhouse gas intensity of the U.S. economy,Veneman said.
Generally, the UN report concludes, climate change has increased
in importance in the national policy agendas of countries that
are Parties to the Convention. Linkages were established in
a number of national communications between climate change issues,
such as energy and mobility, and sustainable development.
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