Wednesday, May 27, 2009

World Business Summit on CC demands governments to turn away from fossil fuels! UN Climate Chief Boer says businesses "not entirely representative".

The Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Yvo de Boer told a news conference at the World Business Summit on Climate Change, that the businesses calling for an ambitious climate deal were "not entirely representative. There are many companies that feel threatened by the prospect of badly designed climate policy. The challenge for political leaders in Copenhagen will be to craft a way forward which safeguards business interests to the extent possible and creates opportunities."

Around 700 business executives representing pro-green industries all over the world ended a two-day World Business Summit on Climate Change on Tuesday (26th May 2009) in Copenhagen with a demand that governments turn away from fossil fuels when they sign a new global climate pact later this year.

Erik Rasmussen, Founder of the Copenhagen Climate Council, explains: "Reducing the emissions that until now have been so linked to our economic growth and betterment will be an enormous, unprecedented global challenge but will also provide significant opportunities for sustainable growth, green jobs, development and innovation".

Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen welcomed the statement and said that "there's only one way forward and that is low-carbon growth, our world should no longer depend on fossil fuels".

In a six-point statement the participants called for tough targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
1. Agreement on a science-based greenhouse gas stabilization path with 2020 and 2050 emissions reduction targets that will achieve it;
2. Effective measurement, reporting and verification of emissions performance by business;
3. Incentives for a dramatic increase in financing low emissions technologies;
4. Deployment of existing low-emissions technologies and the development of new ones;
5. Funds to make communities more resilient and able to adapt to the effects of climate change, and
6. Means to finance forest protection.

for more details see: http://www.copenhagenclimatecouncil.com/

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