Green​s at G-20 Summi​t Call for ‘Rich​’ Natio​ns to Fund Under​devel​oped Count​ries

[Mrs. Sharon B. Hodge]

Greens at G-20 Summit Call for ‘Rich’ Nations to Fund Underdeveloped Countries
Monday, November 17, 2008
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer




Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the International Energy Agency(CNSNews. com) - Green energy advocates called on “rich,” industrialized countries to pony up the money to make the world less dependent on carbon and to subsidize the efforts of underdeveloped countries to reduce emissions in a G-20 publication distributed at a global economic summit Saturday.


Real action “relies on the rich, industrial countries demonstrating that they are ready to take the lead on cutting greenhouse emissions and to invest in building a low carbon economy,” wrote Camilla Toulmin, director of the International Institute for Environmental Development.


“So far, this commitment has been more evident in rhetoric in practice,” Toulmin continued. “Yet delivering this shift in investment, technology and behavior change is not rocket science. Much of it depends on known technology.
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Global warming has been a hotly debated issue in the United States, as Democrats have long called for capping carbon emissions. Opponents of a cap-and-trade system warn of dire economic ramifications at a time when science is not conclusive.


Articles in the publication distributed at the Group of 20 Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy that took place Saturday staunchly advocated governments take action on climate change.


“Governments must withstand lobbying from vested interests and recognize the central responsibility of the state in representing the needs of future generations whose votes do not currently count,” Toulmin write.


Governments can take dramatic action to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050, according to a 2008 report by the International Energy Agency.


In the 146-page G-20 publication, IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka wrote that this could require many coal and gas-fired power plants to use carbon capture devices as well as the construction of an additional 32 nuclear power plants around the world.


Further, it is the responsibility of developed nations to subsidize efforts by underdeveloped countries, wrote Alicia Barcena, executive secretary for the Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean.


“Apparently the only pragmatic way to resolve the distributional dilemma is for industrialized countries, in addition to assuming the cost of drastic reductions in their own emissions, (is) to finance or subsidize reductions in developing regions, as well as furnish technology to facilitate those decreases.
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Citing that much of Latin America is prone to natural disasters caused by global warming, Barcena believes that Latin American countries must demand wealthier countries for more funding to reduce carbon emissions.


“The region must also join its voice with others in calling upon industrialized countries to honor their international, financial commitments, both to help the developing world deal with the impact of climate change and to be part of the effort to keep it under control,” Barcena wrote.

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