Press Releases June 2008 - "Kick the CO2 Habit" - UNEP Says It Ma...http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.Print.asp?Doc...1 de 205/06/2008 18:23

"Kick the CO2 Habit" - UNEP Says It May Be Easier Than You ThinkWorld Environment Day 2008 Guides the Global Public Towards ClimateNeutrality

Wellington/Nairobi, 5 June 2008

- Adopting a climate-friendly lifestyle needn't require drasticchanges or major sacrifices.People in the developed world, as well as some rapidly developing countries and cities - fromManchester and Manhattan to Moscow and Mumbai - can start right away to "Kick the C02 Habit", theUN Environment Programme (UNEP) says.Some quite simple measures can more than halve the daily emissions of an individual, with evenbigger cuts possible if sectors like power suppliers and automobile makers as well as aviation andappliance manufacturers contributed more to the greening of global lifestyles.For example studies indicate that if every airline passenger reduced to below 20Kg the weight of goodsand items carried and bought what they needed on arrival at a duty-free lounge, this could cut globalgreenhouse gas emissions by two million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year.Other low-carbon lifestyle choices at home and when traveling include:-Backing campaigns to encourage airlines to give free coach and rail miles instead of free air miles inorder to promote switches to more environmentally-friendly forms of transport.-Waking up with a traditional wind-up alarm clock rather than the beep of an electronic one - this cansave someone almost 48 grams (g) of CO2 each day.-Choosing to dry clothes on a washing line versus a tumble dryer - a daily carbon diet of 2.3 Kg ofCO2.-Replacing a 45-minute workout on a treadmill with a jog in a nearby park. This saves nearly 1 Kg ofthe main greenhouse gas.These are the findings from two reports launched on World Environment Day by UNEP under thetheme "Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy".The main celebrations of what is a global event are taking place today in New Zealand, one of fivecountries that have pledged to become "climate neutral".One of the reports, a kind of Rough Guide to low carbon living, is entitled "Kick the Habit: The UNGuide to Climate Neutrality".The other, compiled by experts in collaboration with UNEP and the UN World Tourism Organization(UNWTO), is entitled "Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in the Tourism Sector".It focuses on the challenges and opportunities facing the world's biggest industry including those linkedwith flying - both long and short haul.Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "Greenhouse gasemissions are continuing to rise across the globe with transport including aviation one of the fastestgrowing sources. Yet there are countless management, policy and technological opportunities fordramatically changing this trajectory through more intelligent choices by governments, industry and theglobal public"."Some of these choices are big - from smart taxes to encourage offshore wind farms as opposed tomore coal-fired power stations to national policies that favour cleaner and greener forms of mobility upto ones that promote energy efficiency rather than energy consumption," he said."Others are small, such as perhaps thinking about which appliances we buy, how we travel and wherewe source our energy. But multiplied across the world and acted upon by 6.7 billion people, the publichave the power to change the future - have the power to personally and collectively influenceeconomies to 'Kick the CO2 Habit'," he said.New Zealand's Environment Minister Trevor Mallard said: "Sustainability is at the core of NewZealand's national identity. We take pride in our clean, green image, and we have set ambitious goalsin our efforts to move toward carbon neutrality.""Climate change is one of the biggest environmental issues facing the world today and WorldEnvironment Day is an important recognition of today's global interdependence and the responsibilitythat we all share for securing human welfare today and tomorrow."

Halving Your Carbon Footprint - Every Little Counts

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