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CLIMATE CHANGE: Deciphering a green economy
lead photo
JOHANNESBURG, 2 August 2012 (IRIN) - Two consecutive power outages
affecting at least 600 million people spelt out India's energy crisis
as August began. Caused in part by a coal shortage and in part by poor
rains, the lack of power makes a strong case for an urgent global need
to consider alternative sources of electricity.
Electricity is the engine that drives modern lives and economies, so
seeking innovative sources of power implies that economies will also
have to be run differently.
It is in this context that the term "green economy" - an alternative to
a conventional or "brown" one that spews greenhouse gas emissions and
warms the atmosphere - has gained some traction. A major internet
search engine shows more than 29 million hits on "green economy", which
is considerable for a phrase that only came into regular use five years
ago.
"Green economy" was the cause of controversy in the recent Rio+20 Earth
Summit
.
Here is a quick look at what it is about, and whether we should be
concerned about it.
What does it mean?
There is no common understanding of what is meant by a green economy.
The term emerged in 1989 to describe environmental economics, according
to the UN Council for Sustainable Development. Many use it in that
sense - an economy in which there is an improved sense of human
wellbeing and social equity, with reduced environmental and ecological
risks.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which has spent considerable
resources on promoting the concept, defines it as "[An economy] which
is low-carbon, resource-efficient and socially inclusive."
But the continuing volatility in international markets, the hike in
fossil fuel prices, the food price crisis, and the unfolding impact of
climate change have pushed the concept in various directions and given
it different definitions and agendas. The approach varies according to
who is behind it.
Die-hard environmentalists say a green economy relies completely on
renewable energies with "zero" greenhouse gas emissions, and they do
not regard a "low-carbon" economy as "green" because it still releases
harmful emissions.
The Centre for Community Innovation at the University of California
reviewed several reports on the green economy in 2008 and found few had
bothered to define it, but all agreed that "clean energy is its core".
Making the switch
The countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1995 under the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), agreeing to reduce
their greenhouse gas emissions, sooner or later will have to switch to
greener sources of energy.
But when to make the switch, and how, has been hotly contested in
negotiations to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the first phase of which
expires in December 2012. When UNEP introduced the term "green
economy", many developing countries regarded it with some suspicion.
Most of them would like to chart their own development routes based on
equity, to ensure that all their citizens have access to clean energy
and opportunities to grow, rather than being dictated to by anyone.
'' Almost all
countries have a policy or proposal for a "greener" economy that
details their plans to make the transition to greater dependence on
renewable energy, but it is based on their own level of preparedness
and comfort ''
Almost all countries have a policy or proposal for a "greener" economy
that details their plans to make the transition to greater dependence
on renewable energy, but it is based on their own level of preparedness
and comfort.
For instance, South Africa, which depends on local coal for about 77
percent of its energy needs and raises revenue from exports (it is the
world's fourth largest exporter),says it is not
going to give up on
coal for at least two decades. Coal mining employs more than 250,000
people and provides electricity in a country where most people still
rely on wood and paraffin, which have health risks. The coal deposits
are relatively shallow and therefore cheap to mine, and will last for
at least another 50 years.
But the government does have plans to make use of renewable energies -
wind and solar power, low-carbon sources such as gas,nuclear energy,
and imported hydroelectricity
BusinessDinner_06July2012.pdf> - and wants to create "green jobs" that
will take care of people and the environment.
The science
Warnings from science to make the switch have grown more insistent and
frequent. The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned in 2011 that
f> reliance on coal - expected to increase to 65 percent by 2035 - will
"lock" the world in the next five years on a path that could see global
temperatures soar by two degrees Celsius and beyond by the turn of the
century
er-world-by-2050> . Energy experts point out that to prevent this
scenario, all future energy needs would have to be zero-carbon.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other climate
scientists regard global warming of two degrees Celsius as
catastrophic, bringing water stress to arid and semi-arid countries,
more floods in low-lying coastal areas, coastal erosion in small island
states, and the elimination of up to 30 percent of animal and plant
species.
But such warnings have only added fuel to hotly contested debates in
the UNFCCC process on who should make drastic cuts in their reliance on
fossil fuels first. Developing countries stand by the Kyoto Protocol,
which places the onus of making mandatory cuts on the developed world,
as it is held responsible for historical emissions.
At the 2011 UNFCCC conference in Durban, South Africa
but-not-enough> , countries agreed to set up a mechanism by 2012 to
support developing countries in adopting cleaner energies by providing
the technology and capacity to do so.
The Rio+20 outcome
Some developed countries put a "green economy" on the agenda for the
Rio+20 meeting in Brazil in 2012 as a roadmap to global sustainable
development, which the UN defines as "development that meets the needs
of the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs".
Read more
RIO+20: Battles won
and lost
Record charcoal prices
in Somaliland prompt search for alternatives
Somaliland-prompt-search-for-alternatives>
Good for health and
reducing global warming
SENEGAL: Can "green
charcoal" help save the trees?
ve-the-trees>
NEPAL: Improved
stoves for better health
ealth>
Climate
change in-depth
ian-impact-of-climate-change>
Charcoal
forests
But developing countries at Rio+20 were concerned that the developed
world, using their own interpretation of the term "green economy",
could abuse it to impose trade restrictions or set new conditions for
providing loans.
Most developed countries supported a text calling for a transition to a
green economy that included phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, the use
and production of renewable energies, and creating "green" jobs in this
new economic model.
"While we do not object to this vision, the way it was set out meant a
major economic restructuring, with the possible trade-offs and
implications that could be involved in the process down the road not
really spelt out for us," said Qazi Kholifuzzaman Ahmad, an economist
and member of Bangladesh's negotiating team at Rio+20.
"We remember the time we were asked to restructure [by the Bretton
Woods institutions in the 1990s], with the condition that if we did not
we would not receive finances, and everyone knows its consequences," he
noted.
Brazil's chief negotiator at Rio+20, Andre Correa Do Lago, pointed out
that there are no examples of a green economy to emulate, even in the
developed world. The final outcome left it to countries to determine
their own pathways to sustainable development, suggesting that a green
economy could be one such approach.
What models are there?
South Korea, which is credited with coining the term "green growth" in
2008, when the global economy began to slow down, is still trying to
fine-tune the concept. In 2009 the South Korean government responded to
the recession by announcing a US$38.1 billion stimulus package, 80
percent of which it devoted to efficient use of resources such as fresh
water, waste, energy-efficient buildings, renewable energies,
low-carbon vehicles and the rail network.
It also announced an $83.6 billion five-year plan for green growth.
UNEP said the country faces enormous challenges in making the
transition, as it imports 97 percent of its energy needs. Nevertheless,
it is setting up a policy architecture for such an economy, which could
be useful for other countries.
The South Koreans have adopted a green procurement law to promote the
consumption of environmentally friendly products. It introduced a
carbon cash-back system that awards carbon points to people purchasing
such products, which can be exchanged for concessions at government
outlets.
The "development first" approach to the green economy has been pushed
by the African Union, said eminent African scientist Youba Sokona, the
co-chair of the IPCC's Working Group III (mitigation issues). In a
paper prepared by him as the coordinator of the African Climate Policy
Centre, Sokona described this approach as an "opportunity to transform
climate challenges into development opportunities ... to modernize and
upgrade their water, energy, urbanization plans and agricultural
systems."
He said countries in the region had adopted the concepts of a "green
economy" and "green growth", which did not "originate in Africa", but
that these concepts "needed to be re-articulated to have real meaning
in the African condition, and the entry point for us is that it has to
reduce poverty and make us climate resilient."
Sokona called for "leapfrogging" directly to cleaner technologies and
sustainable land-use solutions, but said these should be home-grown,
built by an African pool of researchers and industry that needed to be
nurtured. Importing technology to produce renewable energy could be
prohibitively expensive.
A number of networks of organizations
and the private
sector have suggested ways, or developed frameworks
onomy/;)> , on how to initiate a green economy.
Everyone acknowledges that "going green" is a complicated process, and
each country will have to determine the colour of its future.
jk/he
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_____
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
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