We hear again and again that we must choose between having a stable climate and having a strong global economy. This is a false choice.
Harsh financial reality often rides roughshod over good intentions when it comes to corporate and national balance sheets. Climate change is no exception, for though it may rouse worldwide concern, it also makes people uneasy because of how much it might cost and who should pay.
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©Henry Romero/Reuters |
What do sports shoes, cars, processed foods, cooking utensils, buildings, roads, medicines, mobile phones and the computer this article was written on have in common? A simple answer is chemicals.
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©Philippe Lorenson/Reuters |
Among the environmental threats we face today, four require urgent policy action: climate change; biodiversity loss; water scarcity; and health impacts of pollution. Here are some key messages that are closely scrutinised in the 2008 OECD Environment Outlook.
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Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, Italy's minister for the environment, and chair of the 2008 OECD meeting of environment ministers ©Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi |
Can governments balance these concerns? The OECD’s Environment Policy Committee meets at ministerial level on 28-29 April 2008 under the theme of global competitiveness. Some non-OECD developing countries will also participate, as will stakeholders from business, labour and civil society.
The UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in early December 2007 may have raised new hopes of progress, but as everyone knows, dealing with climate change will require more than just political goodwill. Providing for abundant, affordable, clean energy will require considerable investment in new power generation–more than US$11 trillion to 2030, based on an estimate in the IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2006.
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Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary General, speaks at the Bali Conference on Climate Change, December 2007 |
Although natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions or warm ocean currents, or even the earth’s tilt, might all contribute to global warming, carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by human activity–from running homes and factories to flying planes and mowing lawns–is accepted as a major culprit.
Pressures on the earth’s resources are building, but is the current economic model reaching breaking point? What can be done?
Can the Kyoto protocol, which came into force on 16 February 2005, work? Although natural phenomena such as large volcanic eruptions, ocean currents, the likes of El Niño or even changes in the earth’s tilt might all be contributing factors, carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by human activity–whether running homes and factories or driving cars and lawnmowers–is cited as a major culprit in the rise of global temperatures.
The Kyoto Protocol will be implemented in mid-February, while the size of the challenge presented by climate change is becoming more daunting than expected. Yet, basic steps could be taken that will not only tackle the effects of global warming, but promote development as well.
Sweden’s good reputation for a clean environment may be deserved, but there are murky spots. True, it gained high marks in the recent OECD Environmental Performance Review of Sweden. It was one of the first OECD countries to cut its use of environmentally harmful chemicals, and is one of the few OECD countries on track to meet their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Three years after the adoption of the OECD 10-year Environmental Strategy, ministers acknowledged that they are “not on track” for implementing it by 2010 and that more ambitious action is needed. OECD and non-OECD ministers or deputy-ministers met in Paris to assess progress.
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