Carbon trading essential in climate change fight

25 September 2007 16:00  [Source: ICIS news]

PARIS (ICIS news)--The development of a successful global carbon market is the key to tackling climate change and provides the stimulus for mutual prosperity, the EU president said at an international meeting on Tuesday.

  

Urgent action was necessary to transform the global economy “from a high carbon present to a low carbon future,” Jose Manuel Barroso told delegates at the climate change summit at the UN headquarters in New York.

 

“A low carbon economy will be a stimulus … not a brake on growth,” he added.

 

“Using energy more efficiently means saving money," he said. "Switching to cleaner energy sources improves our air quality and our health. Investing and innovating creates industrial know-how and sustainable jobs. Investing in renewable energy strengthens the security of our energy supplies.”

 

But change must be wrought by offering incentives, rather than imposing sanctions,  Barroso added.

 

“We cannot force people to change. Transformation must be market-based,” he said.

 

Proof this approach worked was the nascent global carbon market, “which in less than three years of existence, has had a total turnover of nearly $30bn (€21bn)”, he said.

 

However, he emphasised the need for binding reduction commitments to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and invited other countries to join the EU’s targets.

 

The summit, attended by more than 80 heads of state, was intended to bolster international resolve to agree in principle to a new treaty which will replace Kyoto after 2012.

 

($1 = €0.71)

By: Philippa Jones
+44 20 8652 3214

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