29 May 2007 - Gland, Switzerland
– Despite the enormous potential of energy
efficiency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and protect the planet from dangerous climate
change, too many existing efficiency policies
and measures in the G8 industrialized countries
are ineffective, WWF’s latest report reveals.
The global conservation organization shows
in its report, Making Energy Efficiency
happen: From Potential to Reality, what
each of the G8 plus 5 countries can do to
save energy and the climate while promoting
their energy security with sustainable economic
growth.
"There is no one silver bullet to
stop dangerous climate change, but energy
efficiency is the largest and most affordable
solution available to avert the current
crisis," says Hans Verolme, Director
of WWF's Global Climate Change Programme.
"It shouldn't take long for the world's
most powerful leaders to realize the immediate
pay-off these efficiency measures offer."
WWF’s recommendations specifically focus
on the building, transport and power sectors.
For the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany
has suggested a 20 per cent increase in
energy efficiency in each sector by 2020
compared to 2005.
The WWF report shows that G8 plus 5 countries
have even greater energy efficiency potentials
in these sectors and that endorsing these
targets is technically and economically
feasible for all countries. It estimates
the efficiency potential for the transport
sector at 25-50 per cent, for the building
sector at 30-45 per cent, and for the power
sector at 4-45 per cent by the year 2030,
depending on the country.
The recommended measures include standard
setting, labelling for energy efficiency,
fiscal instruments such as subsidies or
tax credits, and a CO2 or energy tax. Increased
energy conservation would result in cost
savings, an increase in energy security,
and provide new business opportunities and
increased employment.
The WWF report reveals that the five developing
countries analysed — Brazil, China, India,
Mexico and South Africa — all have some
efficiency policies in place already but
show a large scope for improvement as well.
“At its meeting in Germany next week, the
G8 should first reach agreement on launching
the UN negotiations this autumn and, second,
commit to strong energy saving targets and
technology support for developing countries,"
adds Verolme.
"In today's globalized world industrialized
countries need to work more directly with
developing economies, for instance in developing
joint energy efficiency standards."
END NOTES:
• The G8 plus 5 are the world’s largest
developed and developing countries, responsible
for some 85 per cent of global greenhouse
gas emissions. The G8 are: Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom
and United States, with the European Union
as an observer. The G5 are: Brazil, China,
India, Mexico and South Africa.
• The 33rd G8 summit will be held in Heiligendamm,
Germany, from 6 to 8 June 2007.
Martin Hiller, Communications Manager
WWF Global Climate Change Programme
Brian Thomson, Press Officer
WWF International
+ More
WWF part of HSBC partnership to combat
climate change
30 May 2007 - London, UK – HSBC, one of
the world’s largest banking and financial
services organizations, has created a multi-million
partnership to respond to the urgent threat
of global climate change.
The five-year, US$100 million Climate Partnership,
comprised of WWF, The Climate Group, Earthwatch
Institute and the Smithsonian Tropical Research
Institute, will help protect four of the
world's major rivers — the Amazon, Ganges,
Thames and Yangtze — from the impacts of
climate change, and will make some of the
world's major cities — Hong Kong, London,
Mumbai, New York and Shanghai — cleaner
and greener.
"Climate change, poor management and
waste mean that water supplies around the
world are more and more stressed,"
said James Leape, Director General of WWF
International.
"The HSBC Climate Partnership will
help WWF work towards better management
of global water supplies, improve water
security for about 450 million people, and
reduce the impact of climate change on some
of the world's most important rivers."
The HSBC Climate Partnership builds upon
Investing in Nature, the group's previous
five-year partnership which concluded in
2006. Working with WWF, Conservation International
and Earthwatch, the programme helped protect
and better manage three of the world's largest
rivers for the benefit of some 50 million
people, is estimated to have saved more
than 12,000 plant species from extinction,
and trained 200 scientists.
"The HSBC Climate Partnership will
achieve something profoundly important,"
stressed HSBC Group Chairman Stephen Green.
"By working with four of the world's
most respected environmental organizations
and creating a 'green taskforce' of thousands
of HSBC employees worldwide, we believe
we can tackle the causes and impacts of
climate change. Over the next five years
HSBC will make responding to climate change
central to our business operations and at
the heart of the way we work with our clients
across the world."
Alex Hartridge, WWF-UK
+ More
US climate change statement is a delaying
tactic, says WWF
31 May 2007 - Gland, Switzerland – The
announcement of the White House on climate
change casts a long dark shadow over the
G8. The US offers nothing but delaying tactics,
says WWF.
"After first ignoring the reality
of climate change, President Bush now aggressively
moves to block the G8 from reaching agreement
and showing leadership,” says Hans Verolme,
Director of WWF’s Global Climate Change
Programme. “The White House 'proposal' is
trying to cast a long dark shadow over the
climate process, well beyond the President
Bush’s exit from the Oval Office."
"This last minute conversion is nothing
but a diversion. The US Administration has
repeatedly deleted all climate change language
from the text of the upcoming G8 Summit,
and has refused to talk about emission reduction
targets, carbon markets, and even about
increases in energy efficiency,” adds Verolme.”
Do you honestly believe they will negotiate
in good faith? It is all just a delaying
tactic. Empty promises from US President
Bush will not stop the climate crisis."
Martin Hiller, WWF Climate Change Programme
