We must kick carbon addiction, warns Ban
UN chief marks World Environment Day with sobering reflection on climate change
Reuters in Wellington – Updated on Jun 06, 2008
The United Nations chief urged the world yesterday to wean itself off carbon dioxide, saying everyone must take steps to fight climate change.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said global warming was becoming the defining issue of the era and would hurt rich and poor alike.
“Our world is in the grip of a dangerous carbon habit,” Mr Ban said on World Environment Day, which was marked by events around the globe.
The main ceremony was hosted by the New Zealand city of Wellington.
“Addiction is a terrible thing. It consumes and controls us, makes us deny important truths and blinds us to the consequences of our actions,” he said, reinforcing this year’s World Environment Day theme of “CO2 – Kick the Habit”.
“Whether you are an individual, an organisation, a business or a government, there are many steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint. It is a message we all must take to heart.”
World Environment Day, conceived in 1972, is the United Nations’ principal day to mark green issues and give a human face to problems and solutions.
New Zealand, which boasts snow-capped mountains, untouched forests and pristine fjords used as the backdrop for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, has pledged to become carbon neutral.
“We take pride in our clean, green identity as a nation and we are determined to take action to protect it,” New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said.
“We appreciate that protecting the climate means behaviour change by each and every one of us.”
New Zealand, like many countries, staged art and street festivals to spread the message on how people can reduce carbon usage.
New Zealand Post has asked staff to bring a magazine or book to work and swap it to reduce their carbon footprint.
In Australia, Adelaide Zoo staged a wild breakfast for corporate leaders to focus on how carbon emissions threaten animal habitats.
In Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, people were cleaning up badly polluted Gulshan-Baridhara Lake, and in Kathmandu, the Bagmati River Festival focused on cleaning up the waterway.
Many Asian cities, such as Bangalore and Mumbai, planned tree-planting campaigns, while the Indian city of Pune opened a “Temple of Environment” to help spread green awareness.
Global carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels are rising quickly and scientists say the world faces rising seas, melting glaciers and more intense storms, droughts and floods as the planet warms.
A summit of the Group of Eight nations on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido next month is due to formalise a goal agreed a year ago that global carbon emissions should be reduced by 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.
But some nations think the cuts should be deeper, leading to a reduction of 80 per cent of carbon emissions by 2050 to stabilise carbon dioxide concentrations in the air to limit global warming.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said climate change was already a reality.
“We have been experiencing the worst drought in living memory and our inland rivers are running dry,” he said.
“We are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050.
“We will implement emissions trading as the primary mechanism for achieving this target.”
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said the greening of the world’s economy would cost as little as a few 10ths of global GDP over 30 years and would be a driving force for innovation, new businesses and employment.
The UNEP urged greater energy efficiency in buildings and appliances and a switch towards cleaner and renewable forms of electricity generation and transport.
It said more than 20 per cent of new investment in renewable energy was in developing countries, with China, India and Brazil taking the lion’s share.
Renewables now provide about 5 per cent of global power generation and 18 per cent of new investment in power. But the UN body said an estimated 20 per cent of carbon emissions came from deforestation and urged developing nations to save their forests as carbon sinks.