Climate change
October 6, 2009
During two weeks of climate talks as preparation for the UN conference in Copenhagen in December, the Paris-based IEA said the economic slump would lead to a three percent fall in emissions for 2009.
An IEA report, parts of which were released on the sidelines of climate talks being held in Bangkok, says economic strife led to the deferral of investment in polluting technologies.
"This gives us a chance to make real progress towards a clean-energy future," IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said in a statement, but added that there was still an urgent need to put "the right policies in place."
Making Copenhagen work
He appealed to world leaders to write a 43 percent emissions cut into any deal they make in Copenhagen and to commit to the creation of climate funds in order to stimulate investment in nuclear and renewable energies.
"If we cannot make a decision in Copenhagen, inaction will have a cost, and we have projected that cost is about $500 billion every year," he said.
He underscored the importance of reaching agreement at the UN conference in December, saying that failure to do so could lead to further investment in the polluting technologies, the effects of which would ultimately end up costing more.
Tanaka said that as energy is at the heart of the problem of global warming, it must also form the core of the solution. And the agency believes that means investments to the tune of $10 trillion between 2010 and 2030.
The IEA has stressed the role of major developing countries such as Russia, China, Brazil and the Middle East in the race to meet the 2020 targets which would limit global warming to two percent.
"The biggest challenge will be to ensure there is funding to back this energy transformation, with substantial support for developing countries," Tanaka said, adding that wealthier countries would be expected to provide some of that support.
tkw/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Trinity Hartman