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Al Gore. Photo: KATHERINE MUICK-MERE
Gore promises to try to break US impasse on climate change
Gore says he will do what he can to break the US policy "impasse" on international climate- change agreements| SUE BLAINE and ALISTAIR ANDERSON |
Published: 2011/09/24 08:17:04 AM |
ENVIRONMENTALIST Al Gore, who was US vice-president under Bill Clinton, said in Johannesburg yesterday that he would do what he could to break the US policy "impasse" on international climate- change agreements.
The US’s continued refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol is part of the reason some countries, including Australia, Canada and China — the world’s second-largest economy — were arguing against a second commitment period for the protocol. The first period for the only international agreement on global collaboration to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere ends on December 31 next year.
SA is hosting this year’s 17th Conference of the Parties of the united Nations UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban (Cop17). The conference is not expected to deliver agreement on a second commitment period.
Mr Gore, speaking at the Discovery Invest Leadership Summit, said the world had a choice: to continue on the route of fossil fuel and its inherent risks, or to "put people to work in this massive transition to a low-carbon economy". A price on carbon — whether a tax or "cap and trade" — was essential, he said.
Mr Gore said excessive short- term focus in the world business arena, and in politics, had led to the financial crisis. "When dealing with the climate crisis, we can’t afford to have a short-term focus … 90-million tons of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere every 24 hours, and 20% of that will be there in 20000 years."
Carbon dioxide is one of several greenhouse gases scientists say cause a warming effect that has precipitated climate change. It has become the symbol for them all.
Climate scientists were concerned particularly about SA’s and "all of southern Africa’s" increased potential to suffer drought because of climate change, Mr Gore said.
But the climate crisis was also an opportunity for effecting a sea- change in the global economy, he said. Even without the negative effect of carbon emissions, disclosures on WikiLeaks had recently alleged that Gulf oil producers had not been completely truthful about the rate of decline in their oil reserves and new oil discoveries.
"We can’t go on being dependent on oil. It affects energy security," Mr Gore said. He said increased demand for renewable energy sources would lead industry to spend on research and development to hasten improvements and drive down prices.
Speaking at the same event, economist Nouriel Roubini said SA had the potential to develop at the pace of the other Brics members, Brazil, Russia, India and China. But it would need to invest "very carefully in physical capital in the short run to get stuff out of ground and largely in human capital in the long run to sustain economic growth".
"Growth for SA this year looks below 3% and it won’t be much better next year," said Dr Roubini, who is credited with predicting the collapse of the US housing market and the 2008 recession that followed.
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GERMANY is not only the biggest economy in the European Union (EU) but is also leading the 27-member bloc in embracing the use of renewable energy. | Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa says by 2080 about 70-million people and up to 30% of the continent's coastal infrastructure would face the risk of coastal flooding due to rising sea level | World Bank says SA could face one of the largest tariff hikes in the world if developed countries decided to tax the carbon content of imports from developing economies | ||
The forthcoming UN summit is exactly the right place for countries to invest more in climate diplomacy and practical international co-operation to help create conditions on the ground that will enable a comprehensive global treaty to be reached in the future | Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba says the department's climate-change policy framework had to meet the special needs of state-owned companies | Thousands expected for UN conference on climate, writes Edward West | ||
Treasury has declined a request for R400m from the Department of International Relations and Co-operation forcing the department to approach 30 local and international companies to provide the shortfall | Diplomatic gaffes have raised doubts about SA's ability, writes Jon Herskovitz | Delegates to the COP-17 climate-change talks in Durban later this month will be able to buy 'Ceba credits' to offset the carbon footprint of the event | ||
Extending Kyoto Protocol a lofty, unlikely goal, writes Loyiso Langeni | While the conference will not be able to produce a legally binding second commitment period due to time constraints, there is a chance for it to agree that a second commitment period should be secured | Senior economist at sustainability seminar says South Africa is a greenhouse gas emission 'offender', due to its heavy reliance on carbon-based fuels | ||
| Spekboom project to earn SA R250m via carbon credits SA IS ready to sell carbon credits in a project that could bring in R250m towards labour-intensive rehabilitation of degraded agricultural and conservation areas, according to the Department of Environmental Affairs. | Global carbon budget gives all a clear and simple target | After the Treasury holds discussions with industry it will release a second discussion paper before the end of the year | ||
International Convention Centre Durban, venue for the COP17 climate-change conference later this year, rewarded for its environmental management practices | CSIR says SA is putting $1,65m into devising ways of using ecosystems to combat climate change's negative effects | Analysts say the document has a firm eye on mitigating any possible negative effect on jobs | ||
Minister says Department is working closely with the city of Durban and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to ensure that event meets UN requirements | EU change threatens SA's role in global carbon markets, write Andrew Gilder, Brett Jordaan and Lodewijk Nell | The two loan agreements will enable the first large-scale implementation of renewable wind and solar generation in Eskom's history | ||
Gore says he will do what he can to break the US policy 'impasse' on international climate- change agreements | 'Involve cities in climate talks' LOCAL governments need to be part of global climate change negotiations for the first time, when the 17th Congress of the Parties (Cop17) conference is held in Durban later this year, the city's mayor, James Nxumalo, said yesterday. | Business 'must play role in climate change battle' BUSINESS collaboration was 'ever more important' in the battle to save the world from damaging climate change, Seydou Kane, DuPont business development director for sub- Saharan Africa, said on Friday. | ||
UN's top climate-change official says advances on 'nuts and blots' of how the fund will function were made during negotiations in Geneva | 'The surrounding veld was strewn with litter and pamphlets on the environment by the time I left' | International Relations and Cooperation minister hopes Durban conference ends with a commitment to provide farmers around the world with the technology support needed to engage in climate smart agricultural practices | ||
AS IF the issues around the disparity of access to electricity and transport in the context of economic development weren't enough, much of the discourse on climate change revolves around the same sectors. | RESEARCH showing that a shift from coal to natural gas-based energy would have a limited effect on climate was 'exactly why' SA's moratorium on shale gas prospecting was appropriate, commentators said yesterday. | The good thing about SA hosting the 17th UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17) in December is the anxiety it's aroused in business and government to make progress on the path to a low-carbon economy. | ||
TALKS on how to secure the $30bn pledged to the Green Climate Fund by next year, in support of developing countries' climate-change mitigation actions, and to rise to $100bn a year by 2020, continue today and tomorrow. | Germany, France and the WWF proposes a carbon price for ships at around $25 per ton of carbon dioxide emitted | Government hoping that participating countries at the United Nations' Durban conference on climate change in November will be ready and willing 'to compromise and commit' to further reduce gas emissions | ||
Technology could mean development without higher emissions, writes Loyiso Langeni | Zuma says South Africa will invest resources to develop carbon capture technology | Norway says the prospects of concluding a binding climate deal in Durban will hinge on SA's ability to convince fellow Brics members China and India to reach the 'middle ground' on efforts to cut emissions of green house gases | ||
UN says developing countries such as SA need to promote an investment- enabling environment if they want to benefit from climate finance and technology transfers | UN says developing countries such as SA need to promote an investment- enabling environment if they want to benefit from climate finance and technology transfers | Business urges government to creatively manage the transition to a low-carbon economy, which forms one of the levers of the New Growth Path | ||
| Sub-Saharan Africa - Sustainable investment on the rise Not only are investors and companies under increasing pressure to take sustainability seriously in the run-up to COP17 (the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Durban this year), but SA has become a regional front-runner in promoting sustainable investment practices. | Climate change 'worse for SA' EVEN if global warming was limited to 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels - the maximum that the scientific consensus suggests can be reached without dangerous climate change - this might not be enough save SA from harm, Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) atmospheric modeller Francois Engelbrecht said on Friday. | Durban 'on track' for United Nations climate-change talks COP17 United Nations (UN) conference on climate change in Durban later this year will be a working conference for 149 countries and will attract 20000- 25000 delegates | ||
| Alternative plan for climate change meeting SA IS working on an alternative plan to broker a legally binding global deal on climate change at the upcoming Durban meeting, Environment Minister Edna Molewa announced yesterday. | Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa says climate talks in Durban must deliver a mechanism to work around the Kyoto Protocol | Government still determined to release the policy report before hosting (UN) United Nations climate-change talks at the end of the year | ||
INTERNATIONAL Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana- Mashabane says one of the key goals for December's climate-change talks in Durban is to create ... | International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana- Mashabane has welcomed the AU's view that ... | SA is hoping that a second round of climate change talks being held in Germany ahead of a UN summit in SA will convince developed ... | ||
Researcher says as temperatures and humidity increase there is a point where they combine to the extent that no human could maintain a healthy temperature | Kenyan Nobel Peace laureate says this week's AU summit is the last chance for the continent's leaders to take concrete action ahead of ... | African Development Bank calls for additional funding and new financing instruments to help African countries adapt to climate change | ||
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan says ordinary citizens want urgent shift in policy around climate change speaking at green investment conference | ||||
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