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CLIMATE: U.N. conference aims at spurring post-Bali action (02/11/2008)
Nathanial Gronewold, special to Greenwire
UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged industrial nations today to follow up last year's summit in Bali by committing to ambitious reduction targets for emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases and financing technological innovations.
"The more ambitious the commitments by developed countries, the more actions we can expect from developing countries," Ban said at the start of a two-day climate discussion here whose attendees include heads of major U.N. agencies, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) and businessman Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group.
"The more developing countries engage," Ban said, "the more ambitiously the developed countries will commit. This is the cycle we must embark on."
Taking the stage after Ban, Bloomberg touted his city's efforts to increase energy efficiency, reduce traffic congestion, build new transit lines and dramatically reduce carbon emissions over the next decade. Bloomberg said New York can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent from current levels by the year 2030 and that he believes the United States as a whole can achieve something similar.
"The first precondition for making the Copenhagen negotiations a success, I believe, is that the United States, which leads the world in greenhouse-gas production, must finally set real and binding carbon reduction targets," Bloomberg said. "As long as there is no penalty or cost involved in producing greenhouse gases there will be no incentive to meet such targets."
The U.N. meeting is aimed at following up on last December's Bali talks, in which governments committed to a new round of negotiations aimed at generating, by the end of 2009, an agreement to mitigate and reduce emissions to extend past 2012, when the Kyoto protocol expires.
'Now the real work begins'
Today's program involves two main panel discussions, the first featuring a mix of speakers representing local and regional governments, private enterprise and nongovernmental organizations. The afternoon panel involves heads of major U.N. agencies, including the World Food Program and U.N. Environment Program. Branson is expected to deliver a keynote address at a private luncheon.
Tomorrow, representatives from more than 100 countries and international organizations will present their visions of the post-Bali negotiating process in the General Assembly hall. In a related but separately organized event, state treasurers, investors and corporate heads from throughout the United States will gather at the United Nations on Thursday to consider the risks and economic opportunities posed by climate change.
"Now the real work begins," Ban said. "The challenge is huge. We have less than two years to craft an agreement on action that measures up to what the science tells us."
Speaking to reporters, Bloomberg highlighted his government's efforts toward addressing the issue, including eliminating the use of tropical hardwoods for New York City boardwalks and park benches, converting all city taxi cabs to hybrid vehicles, and efforts to "green" city offices and facilities.
Mayor Bloomberg also blasted the latest energy bill passed by Congress for its promotion of biofuels and corn ethanol while maintaining stiff tariffs on sugar cane ethanol, which is more energy efficient.
"Corn ethanol is not something that generates more energy than it uses, on the other hand we subsidize it," Bloomberg said. "Sugar ethanol is very efficient ... and we tariff that. So our energy bill turned out to be a subsidy for the farm industry."