BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report by the
Australian APEC Study Centre says the fastest growing economies in the world
would be damaged if they adopted Kyoto Protocol targets to cut emissions.
"The United Nations has not delivered on the promise (via the Kyoto
Protocol and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) to help developing
countries, especially high-growth developing economies in Asia, to reduce
emissions of carbon dioxide," said Mr. Alan Oxley, Chairman of the Australian
National APEC Study Centre at Monash University, Australia.
"The most important way high-growth developing economies can reduce
emissions is to introduce more efficient ways of using fossil fuels, which
will meet our energy needs for the foreseeable future," noted Mr. Oxley.
"This is important because these countries generate nearly 40 percent of the
world's human generated carbon dioxide and that share is rapidly increasing.
Yet the Global Environment Fund (GEF) which was established in 1991 to fund
projects to address global climate change has given insignificant assistance
to these economies," he concluded.
The report notes that in the thirteen years since GEF was established, it
has provided an average of just over $100 million (U.S.) per year. The APEC
Centre report points out that this amount is insignificant compared to the $63
billion (U.S.) in ordinary aid to developing countries granted in 2004.
"Most of the GEF funding is directed to small and poorer developing
countries to encourage adoption of renewable energy systems," noted Mr. Oxley.
"This does little to reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide, and it further
hampers economic growth in poor and developing countries that need access to
reliable forms of energy. The World Bank and other donors to the GEF are
evidently not interested in effective and concrete action to reduce emissions
of carbon dioxide," he observed.
The report also examined the Clean Development Mechanism in the Kyoto
Protocol, which is supposed to promote commercial investment in developing
countries in projects that would reduce emissions. "There is a clear
consensus among business organizations, analysts and experts at the
International Energy Agency that the mechanism cannot deliver investment to
developing countries," said Mr. Oxley. "As evidence of that, there is
virtually nothing in the pipeline despite years of talking up the CDM," he
concluded.
"Overall, the interests of the fast growing developing economies in East
Asia have been neglected," noted Mr. Oxley.
The APEC report notes that East Asia is heavily dependent on power for
development and strategies to relieve poverty. It points out that if these
economies were required to cut emissions in the manner mandated for
industrialized economies under the Kyoto Protocol, economic growth strategies
would be jeopardized. The report concludes that the most effective long term
strategy for developing economies in APEC is to promote investment in new
technologies which use much more efficient combustion of fossil fuel and to
support research in new technologies for sequestration of carbon dioxide and
even more efficient combustion.
To view the report online, go to http://www.apec.org.au.
(Note: APEC is the organization for Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation.
It includes China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Thailand and Vietnam, the other economies of East Asia, USA, Canada, Mexico,
Chile, Australia and New Zealand. APEC includes one third of the world's
population and generates 60 percent of world GDP).
SOURCE APEC Study Centre
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Related links:
http://www.apec.org.au
CONTACT:
Laura Dlugacz, +54911-5771-7662, or
ldlugacz@dcgpr.com, for the APEC Study Centre
NOTE TO EDITORS: To schedule an interview with Mr. Oxley, contact
Laura Dlugacz at (54911) 5771-7662; ldlugacz@dcgpr.com
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