Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.
See Premium Plans
 
OUR PLANET TOWARDS A LOW CARBON ECONOMY
 
OUR PLANET
Te magazine o te United Nations Environment Programme -
May 2008
KICK THE HABIT 
Towards a low carbon economy 
 
2OUR PLANET TOWARDS A LOW CARBON ECONOMY
Meenakshi Raman,
Chair, Friends o theEarth International ...... argues or undamental changes,particularly in developed countries,to stabilise the climate.
living simply - page 24
Ray C. Anderson,
Founder andChairman o Interace Inc...
mission zero - page 16
... describes how one ormerly oil-intensivecompany is set to achieve zero impact on theenvironment by 2020 by harnessing the powero the possible.... explains how the power o ideasand entrepreneurship will solve theworld’s energy issues, while tacklingclimate change.
Vinod Khosla,
Founder o Khosla Ventures...
inventing the uture - page 20
Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher,
DirectorGeneral o the Environmental ProtectionAuthority, Ethiopia...
salvaging the biosphere - page 14 
... appeals or developed anddeveloping nations to join incutting carbon emissions to savelie on Earth.
Thórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir,
Minister orthe Environment, Iceland...
cooling with heating - page 12
... describes the decarbonisationo her country and callsor a drive to developclimate-riendly technologies.
Dr. Wan Gang,
Minister o Scienceand Technology o the People’sRepublic o China...... describes important programmes or helpingthe world triumph over the ecological havoc o climate change.
crucial science - page 10
Angela Merkel,
Chancellor o theFederal Republic o Germany....... talks to Our Planet about the prospectsor a new global agreement on combatingclimate change.
unique challenge - page 6
New Zealand’s Prime Minister
Helen Clark 
... 
climate change: a global issue- page 5
... reects on the environmentalchallenges o our era ahead o World Environment Day.
OURPLANET
alsopage 3 reectionspage 4 peoplepage 8 verbatim and numberspage 9 bookspage 8 awards and eventspage 9 wwwpage 26 products
Our 
 
Planet 
, te magazine o teUnited Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)PO Box 30552Nairobi, KenyaTel: (254 20)762 234Fax: (254 20)7623 927e-mail: uneppub@unep.orgTo view current and past issues o tispublication online, please visitwww.unep.org/ourplanetISSN 0 - 7394
Direcor o Pbicaio:
Naomi Poulton
Edior:
Georey Lean
Coordiaor:
David Simpson
Assisa Coordiaor:
Anne-France Wite
Specia Coribor:
Nick Nuttall
Disribio Maaer:
Manyalesal Kebede
Desi:
Amina Darani
Prodcedy by:
UNEP Division o Communications and Public Inormation
Pried by:
Naturaprint
Disribed by:
SMI BooksTe contents o tis magazine do not necessarilyreect te views or policies o UNEP or teeditors, nor are tey an ocial record. Tedesignations employed and te presentationdo not imply te expressions o any opinionwatsoever on te part o UNEP concerning telegal status o any country, territory or city or itsautority or concerning te delimitation o itsrontiers or boundaries.* All dollar ($) amounts reer to US dollars.
Rock star
KT Tunstall
...
Rob Fyfe,
Chie Executive Ocer o Air New Zealand...... describes rst steps in cutting the carbonemitted by airlines.
green sky thinking - page 22
... shares her unorthodox advice on reducingyour carbon ootprint.
step by step - page 27
 
OUR PLANET TOWARDS A LOW CARBON ECONOMY3
reflections
 
by Achim Steiner,UN Under-Secretary-General andExecutive Director, UNEP
UNEP promotesenvironmentally sound practicesglobally and in its own activities.Tis magazine is printed on 00% recycledpaper, using vegetable -based inks and otereco-riendly practices. Our distribution policyaims to reduce UNEP’s carbon ootprint.
World Environment Day (WED) 2008 uses the theme o Kick the C0
2
Habitto catalyze grassroots action on the challenge o this generation — climatechange. It is more than a strong and catchy phrase. I we are to move the globaleconomy to a greener and cleaner one, a sharp reduction in the inecient useo ossil uels allied to an increased up take o renewable energy must be atthe centre o the international response. There are also powerul arguments inavour o the making the transition ‘Towards a Low Carbon Economy’, with everclearer evidence that this represents a huge opportunity rather than a burden. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established by UNEPand the World Meteorological Organisation, concludes that greening the globaleconomy might cost as little as a ew tenths o global GDP annually over thenext 30 years. It will also be a driving orce or innovation, new businesses andindustries and employment opportunities across the developed and developingworlds. There are already many encouraging signs. Earlier this year UNEP launchedits climate neutral network (CN Net). Countries, including Costa Rica, Norway andNew Zealand, our main host or the global WED celebrations in 2008, are amongthe early movers. These countries, alongside a growing number o corporationsand cities, are demonstrating that reducing emissions and engaging in carbonmarkets brings not only environmental benets, but social and economic ones too.UNEP is also a part the CN Net initiative and part o a wider UN one thatis working towards climate neutrality across the organization’s buildings,missions and operations. It has the ull support o Ban Ki-Moon, the UNSecretary-General, who has made climate change among his top priorities.During 2008, we will look to broaden participation in the CN Net tocommunities, non-governmental organizations, households and individuals. There are other promising signals, driven by the existing emissions reductionstreaty, the Kyoto Protocol, and the promise o even deeper emissions reductionson the near horizon.Close to 60 countries have targets or renewables, including 13 developingcountries, while around 80 have market mechanisms in place to encouragerenewable energy development.Over 20 per cent o new investment in renewable energy is in developingcountries, with China, India and Brazil taking the lion’s share with 9, 5 and4 per cent respectively in 2006.Renewables now provide over 5 per cent o global generation and 18 per cento new investment in power generation. The Clean Development Mechanism o the Kyoto Protocol in 2006mobilized investment in renewables and energy eciency projects worth closeto $6 billion.Emissions trading, developing mostly as a result o the European Union’s Trading Scheme, saw 362 million tonnes o C0
2
traded in 2005 worth around7 billion Euros.
•••••
UNEP, working with two Indian banks, has developed a household consumercredit market that has brought solar power to 100,000 people on the subcontinent. The initiative is now sel-nancing and set to be piloted elsewhere. The decision at the last climate convention meeting in Bali to include ReducedEmissions rom Deorestation and Degradation (REDD) opens the door or oreststo be more widely actored into eorts. The Government o Norway has announcedit will provide $2.7 billion over the next ve years as incentives or REDD. Adaptation unds are also beginning to ow or ‘climate proong’ economies. There is now an urgent need to secure signicant additional unds to assistdeveloping and least developed economies. There is also a great deal o creativitybeing stimulated. A Solar Grand Plan or the United States that, by 2050, couldsupply almost 70 per cent o the country’s electricity and 35 per cent o itsenergy needs has been proposed Surplus electricity rom solar would be used tocompress air which would be stored in aquiers, caverns and so on and used toturn turbines at night.In America alone $40 billion worth o heat goes down the drain. A rm is makingtiny pumps that extract the heat rom warm washing-up water, to supplement ahouse’s hot water supplies. Icelandic scientists are piloting a project to inject C0
2
 into rock strata where it turns into limestone. In Kenya, researchers are isolatingthe enzymes termites use to convert woody wastes into sugars to put towardsenvironmentally-riendly biouel production.So, WED 2008 does not come in a vacuum but is very much part o a global eortto de-carbonize societies that is touching and empowering all areas o privateand public lie. It is also a milestone along the Bali Road Map that is designed toguide the world to a decisive post-2012 emissions reduction regime by late 2009.Last year’s WED successully used the theme Melting Ice: A Hot Topic? to catalyzegrassroots action by millions o people in close to 100 countries around theworld on the climate change challenge. On this special UN day, let us send a loudand clear message that the global public wants the transormational changesalready underway to continue and to accelerate — that each and everyone wantspersonal, corporate and political action to “Kick the C0
2
Habit”.
••
Cover poto © ANThONY WEST/ Corbis. Kick te habit is te teme o tis year’s World Environment Day on 5 June, a callor worldwide action against global warming. Climate cange is te defning issue o our era — in order to address tis,countries, companies, communities and individuals must ocus on reducing teir greenouse gas emissions and kicking tecarbon abit. Tere are many pats to low carbon economies and liestyles, rom energy eciency and alternative energysources to orest conservation and eco-riendly consumption.
Search
Search History:
Searching...
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
  • p.
    • Notes
    Load more