02
Apr 2009 - London, UK: Many of the economic
stimulus packages up for discussion at the
G20 summit starting today risk locking the
world into a continuing high carbon economy,
a new analysis released by WWF and E3G reveals
today.
“The content of the
stimulus packages we’ve analysed runs counter
to the G20 aims of facilitating – in its
own words - a sustainable financial recovery
and making progress on long-term issues
such as climate change and international
development,” said Kim Carstensen, Director
of WWF’s Global Climate Initiative.
The study, conducted
by Ecofys and Germanwatch, provides the
most detailed and comprehensive analysis
to date of the proposed ’stimulus’ packages
of five key countries - France, Germany,
Italy, the UK and the US - as well as examining
the package agreed by the European Union
as a whole.
“These packages amounting
to billions of dollars provide a clear opportunity
to shift to a more environmentally-sustainable
economy when planning a recovery from the
world’s global recession,” said Carstensen.
“Unfortunately, close
examination of the proposed packages reveals
inadequate incentives for greener technologies
or any pronounced move away from high carbon
investment.”
“It is abundantly clear
that the world must act now in order to
avoid the worst impacts of climate change,
and that unless we invest in a sustainable,
low-carbon economy now, we will certainly
pay the price later – a price far greater
than that of the current economic crisis.
The packages currently on the table fail
to reflect this reality.”
The report examined
the environmentally-beneficial elements
of each package in the context of the stimulus
as a whole, offsetting low-carbon developments
against any potentially carbon-intensive
investments. It also considered whether
the financing proposed is a direct investment
– for example low interest loans to improve
energy efficiency – or an indirect one such
as tax incentives.
When analysed in this
way, the data collected revealed that in
the worst cases, the amount of carbon-intensive
stimulus actually exceeded the amount devoted
to climate-friendly measures. Preparatory
work for the study also revealed that of
all fifteen countries that have announced
their plans for economic stimulus, only
five (plus the EU as a whole) have the necessary
data available to carry out a detailed analysis
of their proposed expenditure on climate-friendly
measures.
“The fact that we are
unable to comprehensively analyse the results
of two thirds of the countries which have
announced packages is a real concern,” says
Nick Mabey, CEO of E3G.
Of the $1.1 trillion
worth of stimulus packages that could be
analysed the effectiveness adjusted climate
friendly expenditure amounts to just $73
billion – a tiny share (6.6%) of the total
stimulus.
While the cost of reducing
global emissions and avoiding unacceptable
risk of catastrophic climate change is estimated
to be between 1-3% of global GDP, the analysis
shows that Germany and USA have given higher
priority to green measures than others,
at around 0.5% of national GDP - but even
these totals are well below the required
level of investment to avoid catastrophic
climate change.
Most countries were
found to be focussing their activity on
energy efficiency in buildings and cars,
ignoring key opportunities offered by renewables
or the restructuring of electricity grids.
For instance, for Italy,
where climate-friendly stimulus is only
relevant for the transport sector, investment
for new roads exceeds investment in public
transport and subsidies for efficient vehicles
by roughly 30%. The UK stimulus entirely
neglected the potential for investment in
renewables and received an overall negative
score based on a $742 million investment
in highways
“Even the data for the
six packages analysed in the report was
relatively limited and it was often difficult
to pinpoint which sector the money was actually
intended for," said Mabey.
"This lack of transparency
allows far too much scope for greenwashing,
and equally, for the good work done by investment
in clean technology to be completely undermined
by parallel investment in carbon intensive
sectors such as fossil fuels and new roads.”
WWF and E3G are calling
on all countries putting forward economic
recovery packages to provide comprehensive
details of the environmental benefits and
impacts of the proposed investments and
to ensure that these investments help rather
than hinder the global transition to a low
carbon future.
+ More
IT solutions offer cost
and climate benefits
Washington, DC – Existing
information technologies (IT) can produce
dramatic reductions in harmful CO2 emissions
while fully meeting the demands of today’s
corporations, two new WWF reports are demonstrating.
Virtual Meetings and
Climate Innovation in the 21st Century highlights
the significant impact employee travel makes
on a company’s total carbon footprint –
accounting for 50% or more among non-manufacturing
companies.
“Creating a global network
of more than 4,000 high quality videoconferencing
studios in cities around the world would
help build a new infrastructure for the
21st century and would cost less than one
and a half airplanes,” said Dennis Pamlin,
a WWF-US Policy Advisor and co-author of
the reports.
From Workplace to Anyplace
highlights opportunities to employ existing
technologies that enable one or more individuals
to work or collaborate remotely. This would
create new efficiencies and cut emissions
created by daily commuting or business air
travel.
In the report’s “smart
world” scenario, where policies and IT industry
users contribute to a climate smart future,
roughly one billion tons of carbon dioxide
emissions are avoided through tele-work
in year 2030–an amount equivalent to the
total current annual carbon dioxide emissions
from the United Kingdom and Italy combined.
By the year 2050, tele-work
could reduce almost 3.5 billion tons of
emissions–equivalent to more than half of
the United States’ current CO2 emissions.
The report also says
that developed countries may deliver the
majority of greenhouse gas emissions with
increased tele-working in the short term,
but developing countries can deliver the
bulk of the reductions in the long term.
According to the reports,
which were independently authored by WWF
together with leading academic experts and
with funding support from HP and Microsoft,
collaboration is fundamental. Business and
policy makers can deliver a low carbon future,
but they must work together to achieve meaningful
results
“IT can be a significant
driver of greenhouse gas reductions, but
we need strong global climate policy to
ensure these solutions are implemented at
the speed and scale necessary to make a
difference,” said Pamlin.
“This research tells
us that if relatively simple measures are
implemented globally, we can achieve annual
emissions reductions equal to at least half
of current U.S. total annual emissions by
2050.
“But we must start to
walk in the right direction now, before
it’s too late.”
.
As part of this research, a carbon calculator
for policymakers and businesses was developed
and is available online at www.worldwildlife.org/carbonprojector.
Search on for best climate
biosolutions
Global environment organization
WWF and leading enzyme biotechnology company
Novozymes today announced an initiative
which will map how and where low carbon
biosolutions can eliminate the first strategic
billion tonnes of CO2.
“Low carbon biotech
solutions are a good example of hidden or
invisible climate solutions that are all
around us already today but are easily overlooked
by policymakers, investors and companies,”
said Kim Carstensen, Director of WWF’s Global
Climate Initiative.
The biotechnology industry
is an important part of the climate solutions
the world is in need of because the emissions
reductions secured by biotech solutions
are factors of magnitude greater than the
emissions involved in creating them. Enzymes,
for instance, save large amounts of energy
when applied to the production of a variety
of every day products, such as paper, washing
powder and bioethanol.
Last year, Novozymes
emitted about one million tonnes of CO2
eq in the production of raw materials and
enzymes but helped eliminate around 28 million
tonnes of CO2 eq emissions over enzyme free
production.
“What we offer our customers
is to produce more from less input, use
less energy in their processes and generate
less waste,” said Steen Riisgaard, CEO of
Novozymes.
“Clearly, biotechnology
is therefore an important route to securing
big emissions cuts while creating succesful
business models.”
With only a small portion
of the potential of biotech so far realized,
the joint Biosolutions Initiative – Eliminating
the first billion tonnes of CO2 will seek
out key and priority areas where biotechnology
solutions can be applied to achieve emissions
cuts.
Low carbon winners of
future need support now
The partnership will
also engage in dialogue with central policy
makers and create low carbon business partnerships
to ensure that low carbon bio tech solutions
become an integrated part of all major climate
projects and initiatives.
“So far, the main effort
to combat climate change has focused on
reducing the negative impact of the big
emmitters,” said Carstensen. “While important,
this neither secures all the reductions
needed nor does it provide a sustainable
economic model for creating jobs, growth
and a prosperous society.”
The project aims to
contribute to accelerating and exploring
the further potential of biotechnology as
a crucial part of overall climate solutions.
“Fighting climate change
is also about innovation and finding smarter
ways to do things, and biotechnology helps
us do just that,” said Carstensen.
The project will also
identify how to best deploy emerging bio-solutions
.
In order to unlock the
full potential of biotechnology, policy
makers need to integrate low carbon biotech
solutions as part of all major climate strategies,"
said Riisgaard.
"Together with
WWF we want to inspire decision makers in
building low carbon solutions for our society."
Pyramids to fade into
night sky for Earth Hour
The Sphinx and the Great
Pyramids of Giza, icons of ancient splendor,
will stand as modern day symbols for action
on climate change as they become the most
ancient of numerous monuments to go dark
for Earth Hour.
Five thousand years
after their completion, Egypt’s Great Pyramids
join around 2,400 cities and towns in 82
countries that will turn off their lights
for Earth Hour at 8:30 p.m. local time on
Saturday.
“Climate Change is a
growing international crisis no country
can afford to overlook,” said Egypt’s First
Lady, Suzanne Mubarak.
“Global warming negatively
impacts the environment as well as the health
and livelihoods of people worldwide. The
interconnected challenges of our time demand
immediate, cooperative action,” she said.
“United together, we
can and will make a difference. I am pleased
to offer my support of Earth Hour and am
encouraged by the World Wildlife Fund's
sustainability initiatives. Earth Hour heightens
awareness and brings hope to the preservation
of our shared planet’s precious environment
today and for generations to come,” Mubarak
said.
The Great Pyramid of
Giza, built thousands of years ago, is one
of the so-called Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World. The Sphinx, made up of a lion’s body
with a human head, is one of the world’s
oldest statues.
The two antiquities
will be joined by two of Egypt’s modern
icons -- the Cairo Tower and Bibliotheca
in Alexandria.
“This is another example
of the unprecedented solidarity being generated
by Earth Hour, with nations, cultures, races,
religions and monuments of the ancient and
modern worlds coming together to make possibly
the most powerful statement on climate change
the world has ever witnessed,” Earth Hour
Executive Director Andy Ridley said.
Earth Hour is a global
WWF climate change initiative. Individuals,
businesses, governments and communities
are invited to turn out their lights for
one hour on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8:30
PM to show their support for action on climate
change. The event began in Sydney in 2007,
when 2 million people switched off their
lights. In 2008, more than 50 million people
around the globe participated. In 2009,
Earth Hour aims to reach out to hundreds
of millions of people in 1,000 cities.
