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Cities Are World's Biggest Source of Carbon Emissions (Update2)
2010-11-05 04:49:56.718 GMT
(Updates with Chinese mayors in 12th paragraph.)
By John Duce
Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Cities are the world's biggest source
of carbon emissions and must embrace technology to clean the air
and counter global warming, Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald
Tsang said.
"Cities must unlock the full potential of low carbon
technologies," Tsang said at the opening of a two-day climate-
change forum that includes the mayors of Toronto, New York City
and Johannesburg. A woman unfurled a Greenpeace banner with an
anti-nuclear slogan during Tsang's speech and was led away
without struggle by security.
Hong Kong wants to cut emissions by as much as 33 percent
by 2020 from 2005 levels and may tap solar, wind and nuclear
energy to slash output. The city's government is consulting the
public on a strategy to reduce greenhouse-gas production,
including proposals to increase use of atomic power, Secretary
of the Environment Edward Yau said at a media briefing today.
Delegates from more than 30 cities will discuss ways of
developing electric-powered forms of transport and greater
energy efficiency in buildings to help tackle climate change.
The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group forum comes ahead of
United Nations-organized talks in Cancun, Mexico, later this
month to help try to reach an international agreement on curbing
greenhouse gases.
"It's absolutely clear to me that cities are leading the
way in the fight against climate change," Toronto Mayor David
Miller said today. "We have removed millions of tons of carbon
among C40 cities."
Buildings represent an average of 60 percent of total
global emissions, while there are more than 20 million vehicles
in 19 in the C40, the group said in a statement today.
Global Treaty
The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group was set up in 2005
to share ideas and experiences on tackling climate change among
cities around the world. Members include London, Beijing, Hong
Kong and Houston. The next meeting at Basel in Switzerland in
January will focus on funding environmentally sustainable
infrastructure projects.
Talks in China aimed at reaching an international accord to
mitigate climate change ended last month with little sign the
world's biggest polluters are resolving their differences.
The U.S. wants China and some larger developing countries
to accept international scrutiny of their measures to reduce
emissions. China said at the Tianjin meeting that richer nations
should pledge deeper emissions cuts before developing nations
are asked to do more.
Negotiators failed to reach a binding deal on greenhouse
gas emission cuts at a U.N. summit in Copenhagen last year. The
U.N. Framework Convention estimates that current emissions
reduction commitments amount to a cut of between 12 percent and
19 percent from 1990 levels, short of the range of 25 percent to
40 percent it says is needed.
Chinese Polluters
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he's impressed
that Chinese mayors are participating in the Hong Kong forum.
"Job creation and economic development have always been
modern-day China's No. 1 priority, but for the first time there
is an understanding in China that the environment is something
that you cannot walk away from," Bloomberg said at the briefing.
"You have to do something, and they are doing something."
China, which burns coal at 80 percent of its power plants
as fuel, has been shutting mines and factories to help meet its
goal of cutting energy consumption per unit of gross domestic
product by 20 percent in the five years ending 2010. The economy
grew 9.6 percent in the third quarter, the smallest increase in
a year.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg formally takes over
as chairman of the C40 Cities group from Toronto's Miller
tomorrow. Bloomberg is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg
News parent Bloomberg LP.
For Related News and Information:
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
Top stories on China: TOP CHINA <GO>
China Energy Data: ENST CHINA <GO>
--Editors: Ryan Woo, John Viljoen.
To contact the reporter on this story:
John Duce in Hong Kong at +852-2977-2237 or
Jduce1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or
aprakash1@bloomberg.net.
