Are You Going Neutral
on Global Warming?-13
Countries, Cities and Companies Say Yes!
10th Special Session of the Governing Council/Global
Ministerial Environment Forum
Monaco/Nairobi, 21 February 2008-Four countries,
four cities and five corporations have become
the pioneering founders of a bold new initiative
to address climate change and the urgent
need to de-carbonize the global economy.
The participants are
the first to join the Climate Neutral Network
(CN Net), launched today by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) in cooperation
with the UN’s Environmental Management Group,
as one inspiring solution to the challenge
of rising greenhouse gases.
The Network, a web-based
project, is seeking to federate the small
but growing wave of nations, local authorities
and companies who are pledging to significantly
reduce emissions en route to zero emission
economies, communities and businesses.
Over the coming months,
intergovernmental bodies, organizations,
civil society groups and eventually individuals
will be invited to take part.
The aim is a truly global
information exchange network open to all
sectors of society from Presidents, Prime
Ministers and Princes to people from Pittsburg
and Sao Paulo to Poznan and Apia.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and UNEP Executive Director, said
today: “Climate neutrality is an idea whose
time has come, driven by the urgent need
to address climate change but also the abundant
economic opportunities emerging for those
willing to embrace a transition to a Green
Economy”.
“This new initiative supports the formal
negotiations under the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change. Here governments need
to navigate the Bali Road Map to a successful
conclusion in Copenhagen in 2009. The CN
Net can assist in building confidence through
demonstrable action at the national and
local level on the art of the possible,”
he said.
“The CN Net is also
in for the long haul and equally aimed at
mobilizing a broad-based response demonstrating
that a transition to a low, even zero carbon
future, can be a reality if inspiring and
practical actions can be federated around
the world,” said Mr Steiner.
The first four countries
to partner are Costa Rica, Iceland, New
Zealand and Norway. They, along with the
initial cities and companies, represent
a diversity of challenges and opportunities
which have the potential to be replicated
by others in whole or in part.
“For Norway it is emissions
from oil and gas that dominate whereas for
New Zealand, agriculture represents 50 per
cent of its current greenhouse gases,” said
Mr Steiner.
“Iceland’s central challenge
is perhaps transport and industry including
fishing and fish processing. I am especially
delighted that Costa Rica is at the forefront
of the initiative. Its commitment demonstrates
that the economic benefits of reducing dependency
on fossil fuels and action on deforestation
and degradation are of central interest
to developing and developed countries alike,”
he said.
Costa Rica aims to be
climate neutral by 2021 when it celebrates
200 years of independence.
The strategy will build
on Costa Rica’s decision to tax fossil fuels
in 1996 with 3.5 per cent of the money raised
allocated to the National Forestry Financing
Fund.
These are part of a
‘payment for environmental services’ programme
that pays landowners who manage forests
for their carbon sequestration and storage
alongside management for water production,
biodiversity and scenic beauty.
In 2007 Costa Rica planted
more than five million trees or 1.25 per
person making it the highest per capita
planting in the world. Various industries
are supporting the initiative including
a C-neutral plan by Costa Rica’s banana
sector.
Other elements of the
strategy include increasing the percentage
of renewable energy generation to well over
90 per cent and action on energy efficiency
including energy saving appliances.
Iceland has drawn up
a plan to reduce its net greenhouse gas
emissions by up to 75 per cent by 2050.
The country’s electricity production is
already among the greenest on the globe.
Currently 99 per cent
of electricity generation and 75 per cent
of total energy production is coming from
geothermal and hydro-power. Iceland’s biggest
challenge comes from transport including
vehicles and its fishing fleet whose emissions
have risen since 11000.
The country is planning
to extend discount fees to people buying
environmentally-friendly vehicles such as
ones powered by methane, hydrogen, electricity
or hybrid technology.
Iceland is also looking
to equip the country’s fishing fleet with
eco-friendly fuel systems including fuel
cells. Progress is also under way to substitute
ammonia for HCFCs – an ozone damaging and
greenhouse gas – in the fleet’s refrigeration
equipment.
Tapping methane from
landfills and better management and restoration
of soils, wetlands and forests in order
to ‘sequestrate’ carbon from the air and
minimize releases from the land are also
part of Iceland’s strategy.
New Zealand is aspiring
to climate neutrality through a wide range
of domestic initiatives including a trading
scheme covering all sectors of the economy
and all six greenhouse gases regulated under
the Kyoto Protocol.
The country has set
itself the target of generating 90 per cent
of its electricity from renewable sources
by 2025, and halving per capita transport
emissions by 2040 by introducing electric
cars and a requirement to use bio fuels.
Meanwhile six government
agencies will be aiming to achieve full
neutrality by 2012. Where emissions cannot
be cut they will be offset through forest
regeneration projects on tribal lands.
New Zealand, which will host World Environment
Day 2008 under the theme ‘Kick the C02 Habit”,
is paying particular attention to emissions
from agriculture. Some 40,000 farms account
for 50 per cent of the country’s greenhouse
gases versus around 12 per cent from agriculture
in most developed countries.
Norway aims to become climate neutral by
2030, advancing by around 20 years a previously
announced deadline.
The country has embarked
on a vigorous energy efficiency and energy
savings policy and is perfecting carbon
capture and storage at its offshore oil
fields.
Norway recently joined
the European Emissions Trading Scheme and
has approved over $730 million to invest
in offsets via the Kyoto Protocol’s Joint
Implementation and Clean Development Mechanism.
It has announced plans
to invest $2.7 billion in Reduced Emissions
from Deforestation and Degradation-global
greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation
are estimated to be around 20 per cent of
the total from all sources.
During the period 2008-2012,
Norway estimates that it will over-fulfill
its Kyoto Protocol commitments by five million
tonnes.
Cities
Four cities are also today announcing they
have joined the CN Net. They are Arendal,
Norway; Rizhao, China; Vancouver, Canada
and Växjö, Sweden.
Arendal took a decision on climate neutrality
in 2007. It is currently assessing its greenhouse
gas footprint and will have a final estimate
in May 2008. The city’s initial target is
stabilization in 2012 and a 25 per cent
emission reduction by 2025.
City-wide action, including
energy efficiency measures in buildings,
will be supplemented by the purchasing of
carbon offsets via a scheme run by the Norwegian
State Pollution Control body. This may commence
as early as this year.
Rizhao is implementing
a transition to a low carbon society via
a variety of innovative measures including
boosting solar power in homes and schools
up to harvesting methane as a fuel from
industrial waste-water.
Close to 100 per cent
of urban housing now has solar heaters and
30 per cent of rural homes. Compared to
2000, the amount of energy used per unit
of GDP has fallen by almost a third and
C02 emissions by almost half.
Vancouver has adopted
targets to reduce community greenhouse gas
emissions to 33% below current levels by
2020 and 80% below 11000 levels by 2050.
In addition, Vancouver adopted the target
of greenhouse gas neutral buildings for
all new construction by 2030.
The city has also set
a target of being carbon neutral in its
own civic operations by 2012 by retro-fitting
public buildings to save energy, adopting
more efficient vehicles, including those
powered by alternative fuels, and capturing
methane gas from its landfill and converting
the energy to heat and electricity .
Växjö has decided to become a
‘Fossil Fuel Free” City.
In 1996, there was a
unanimous political decision to reduce CO2
emissions per inhabitant by at least 50%
by the year 2010, compared to 1993. In 2006,
the reduction was 30%. For the year 2025,
the goal is 70% and the long term goal is
of course to stop using fossil fuels. Today,
over 50% of the city’s energy supply comes
from renewables.
Corporations
Five companies have become the first to
join the CN Net. They are Co-Operative Financial
Services, UK; Interface Inc, United States;
Natura, Brazil; Nedbank, South Africa and
Senoko Power, Singapore.
Co-operative Financial
Services’s (CFS) 25-storey headquarters
in the North of England is the largest solar
installation in the UK with 7,000 photovoltaic
panels. In addition, 99 per cent of the
CFS’s electricity is sourced from ‘good
quality’ renewable energy supplies.
The company has also
developed a range of innovative products
for customers including car insurance and
mortgages that include offsets covering
a fifth of a vehicle and a household’s emissions.
Interface Inc, a commercial interiors company,
has committed to climate neutrality by 2020
under the Clinton Global Initiative. Employee
and company travel is offset through several
schemes including Cool C02mmute and Trees
for Travel.
Seven of its manufacturing
facilities are run using renewable energy
including its LaGrange plant in Georgia
that is fueled by methane from a landfill
site. The company is committed to greening
its supply chain and offers a range of climate
neutral products including Cool Carpet.
Natura, a Brazilian
multinational cosmetics company, has pinpointed
potential emissions savings of 33 per cent
from its business supply chain. The company
has committed to replace petroleum-based
products in its cosmetic in favour of natural
minerals and plant materials.
As early as 1997, Natura
converted its distribution fleet in the
greater Sao Paulo area to natural gas. Emissions
that cannot be cut will be offset via native
species forestry projects and renewable
energy.
Nedbank is working to
reduce its own emissions and those of its
24,000 employees through a range of initiatives
including public awareness schemes for environmentally-friendly
living.
The company is a signatory
to South Africa’s Energy Efficiency Accord;
is the only African bank to have signed
up to the Equator Principles and is a leading
member of the Carbon Disclosure Project
that encourages companies to disclose their
carbon footprint as a stepping stone to
greater emissions reductions.
Senoko Power is Singapore’s
largest power company. In 1998, over 80
per cent of its power plants were powered
by fuel oil or diesel. Today over 90 per
cent of electricity is generated by natural
gas and since 11000 the ‘carbon intensity’
has fallen by close to 40 per cent.
Part of its Corporate Social Responsibility
strategy includes building climate awareness
in the community including in schools and
via a National Weather Study Project. Senoko
is the first power company in Singapore
to meet the environmental standard ISO 14001.
Quotes from some of the CN Net’s founding
partners
Roberto Dobles, Environment and Energy Minister,
Costa Rica
“Costa Rica seeks to be climate neutral
in 2021, unilaterally, because even though
our emissions are small, we believe there
is a common yet differentiated responsibility.
The successful economies of the future will
be those that are decarbonized and climate
friendly.
“Costa Rica is developing
the National Strategy on Climate Change
to act responsibly with present and future
generations, in a view to reduce emissions
and adapt our country to climate change.
Costa Rica is developing a National Strategy
on Climate Change to generate new competitive
capabilities in a global environment heavily
impacted by climate change.
The country is beginning
to share the vision that a climate neutral
economy is also a competitive one, since
costs can be reduced and climate quality
factors added.”
Thorunn Sveinbjarnardottir,
Environment Minister, Iceland
“Climate change can have dire consequences
for a large part of humanity in the coming
decades. We must, however, be able to frame
the challenge in a positive way, and to
see it as a task of doing things in a better
way, a cleaner way.
Iceland has effectively
de-carbonized its energy production sector,
and hopes to do the same in the coming decades
with other sectors of the economy. UNEP’s
Climate Neutral Network initiative allows
countries to illustrate best examples in
various fields, and to stake out an ambitious
profile in climate affairs. Who stays ahead
in this friendly race towards carbon neutrality
is not most important; if we all manage
to beef up our efforts the real winners
will be the future inhabitants of Planet
Earth.”
David Parker, Minister
for Climate Change, New Zealand
“The development of the Climate Neutral
Network signifies a major step forward in
creating a coordinated global response to
climate change. I am proud that New Zealand
is a founding member of the Climate Neutral
Network. As a signatory we are leading the
way in actively laying out strategies to
become carbon neutral.
The creation of the network recognizes that
global economic growth and well-being sit
alongside a clean and healthy environment.
It also recognizes that climate change is
an issue of the highest concern to the United
Nations.”
Erik Solheim, Minister
of the Environment and International Development,
Norway
“The Climate Neutral Network will be an
important contribution to the development
and promotion of carbon neutral economies.
It will facilitate the role of marked-based
solutions and economic regulatory measures
to combat climate change.”
Torill Rollstad Larsen,
Mayor of Arendal
“The UN city of Arendal is paying strong
attention to the threats from Climate Change
and trying to live up to the notion ‘think
globally and act locally’. We are currently
embarking on an ambitious program to reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases from Arendal’s
own activities drastically by 2012. We will
further become climate neutral from 2008
by offsetting remaining emissions. We also
work with major events in the city like
the Hove rock festival, the World Speed
Boating Championship and the Canal Street
jazz festival to be climate neutral this
year. We very much look forward to sharing
ideas and experience with other colleagues
in UNEP’s Climate Neutral Network.”
Sam Sullivan, Mayor
of Vancouver
“The City of Vancouver is proud to be recognized
by the Climate Neutral Network as a world
leader acting to significantly reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. Along with our focus on EcoDensity
and making Vancouver green, livable and
affordable, we follow approaches where we
can have the greatest impact: improving
our own operations, following integrated
and sustainable land-use and transportation
planning, encouraging renewable district
energy systems, and requiring the highest
standards of energy performance from buildings.”
Anders Franzén,
Development manager, Växjö
“In Växjö, Sweden we took an early
responsibility to become climate neutral
by a decision 1996 to reduce our carbon
dioxide emissions that make us a fossil
fuel free city. By different measures we
have reached a considerable reduction and
are now emitting less than world average.
We like to share our program, vision and
experience world wide. One good way can
be through the Climate Neutral Network.”
David Anderson, Chief Executive of CFS
“By using green energy, pursuing energy
efficiency and offsetting all our remaining
CO 2 emissions we are doing everything to
reduce our impact on the environment. However,
we cannot ignore the legacy we have left
over the years. That is why we are going
beyond carbon neutral and offsetting 110%
of our emissions each year.”
Daniel T. Hendrix, Chief
Executive Officer, Interface, Inc.
"Interface is excited to join UNEP's
Climate Neutral Network and share ideas
and strategies on achieving climate neutrality.
It will take the collaborative work of many
to solve global climate change problems
and we want to do everything we can to inspire
and enable others to join us in our mission
to be a climate neutral enterprise."
Eduardo Luppi, Vice-President
for Innovation, Natura
"To Natura, initiatives like the Climate
Neutral Network are essential to stimulate
the exchange of ideas in a way that countries
and companies commit themselves more and
more to the neutralization and, mainly,
the reduction of greenhouse gases. Participation
in this network is very important for Natura
to share experiences on its Carbon Neutral
Program and to exchange best practices on
environmental issues".
Selby Baqwa, Group Executive
for Governance, Compliance and Sustainability,
Nedbank Group
“Having worked with both UNEP and the UN
Global Compact over the last few years,
we strongly support the collaborative approach
to dealing with one of the greatest challenges
facing the world today, that of climate
change, and look forward to working with
the Climate Neutral Network.
Nedbank is committed to a variety of energy
efficiency projects, supporting clean energy
and creating awareness around how to minimize
the individual effect on global warming
of each of our staff members and clients
through their carbon footprints”.
Roy Adair, President
& CEO of Senoko Power Ltd
“UNEP's launch of the climate neutral network
is an excellent step to raise public awareness
on climate change mitigation. Through this
platform, the public, organizations, and
people sectors will be able to share solutions
and strategies to combat climate change.
As a power generation company, we at Senoko
Power are honored to be a part of this global
initiative.
In Singapore, we are
committed to minimizing our impact on the
environment. We have significantly reduced
our carbon intensity by as much as 40% compared
to 11000s by adopting the latest energy-efficient
combined cycle plant technology, while also
shifting fuel consumption to mostly natural
gas.
In addition, we have committed more than
S$1.8 million (US$ 1.25 million) for the
sponsorship of the National Weather Study
Project (NWSP) between 2005 and 2007. The
NWSP was launched to raise awareness on
climate change among students from 240 schools
and junior colleges in Singapore.
Through these initiatives, we continue to
serve as an agent of change not only for
the power generation industry but also for
the public”.
Notes to Editors
The aims and objectives of the Climate Neutral
Network, the pledges and strategies of the
participants and details on how to join
are at www.unep.org/climateneutral
The 10th Special Session of UNEP’s Governing
Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum
will take place between 20 and 22 February
in Monaco. www.unep.org/gc/gcss-x/
The theme is Globalization and the Environment-Mobilizing
Finance to Meet the Climate Challenge.
Host Country web site is at http://www.unep2008.gouv.mc/pnue/wwwnew.nsf/HomeGb
UNEP resources on climate change are at
www.unep.org/themes/climatechange/
UN Environmental Management Group is at
www.unemg.org
World Environment Day 2008 www.unep.org/wed/2008/english/
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson and Head
of Media
Mr. François Chantrait, Directeur.
Centre de Presse
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