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Financing the Transition from a
Brown to a Green Global Economy Tops Environment
Ministers Meeting
UN Environment Programme's 10th Special
Session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial
Environment Forum in Monaco 20-22 February
Nairobi/Monaco, 11 February 2008 -
The biggest gathering of environment ministers
to take place since the climate change breakthrough in
Bali will be happening in Monaco later this month under
the theme "Mobilizing Finance for the Climate
Challenge".
More than 100 ministers from across the globe are
scheduled to attend the Global Ministerial Environment
Forum (GMEF) - the world's forum for environment
ministers -alongside senior figures from industry and
economics; science; local government; civil society,
trades unions and intergovernmental bodies.
These include Tulsi Tanti, Managing Director of
Indian wind energy company Suzlon; Yvo de Boer,
Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change; and Juan Somovia, the Director-General
of the International Labour Organisation.
Other key figures include Gunter Pauli, entrepreneur,
businessman and founder of the Zero Emissions Research
and Initiatives and an expert on nature's solutions to
environmental challenges; James Cameron, founder of
Climate Change Capital - an investment banking group
specializing in financing a low-carbon economy; and
Fernando Ibanez, Chief Executive Officer of Saguapac,
one of the world's most successful and largest water
cooperatives.
They will be joined by V. Ramanathan of the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, an expert on the emerging
challenge of 'global dimming'.
Professor Ramanathan is leader of the Atmospheric
Brown Cloud research team. It is carrying out cutting
edge research on the emerging links between soot in the
atmosphere and novel climatic impacts including
accelerated glacier melt, reduced crop yields and shifts
in rainfall patterns of the Monsoon.
The delegates will all be attending the 10th Special
Session of the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP)
Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment
Forum.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP
Executive Director, said: "The last climate convention
meeting delivered the Bali Road Map. This is the path
along which over 190 countries are traveling in order to
deliver a new and decisive climate deal by Copenhagen in
2009."
"Mobilizing finance, focusing markets and unleashing
innovation will be central to successfully negotiating
the Road Map and avoiding too many detours and dead
ends," he added.
"We are already glimpsing a transition to a low
carbon society. Billions of dollars are now being
invested in renewable energy and hundreds of
institutions with trillions of dollars of assets are now
endorsing investment principles that reflect
environmental alongside social and governance concerns,"
said Mr. Steiner.
"Designing and delivering a Green Economy will not
only avert dangerous and debilitating climate change. It
can address the wider sustainability challenges outlined
in UNEP's recent Global Environment Outlook from loss of
biodiversity and rapid ecosystem degradation to
collapsing fish stocks and depleted soils," he said.
"In doing so, it opens the door to true sustainable
development - development that benefits rich and poor
alike by unleashing creativity and innovation, spawning
new technologies and industries and stimulating new
kinds of green employment patterns. In short, it is
about investing in tomorrow's economy today," said Mr.
Steiner.
Examples of transformations already underway
include:
- UNEP's Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative (SEFI)
is helping financiers scale up investment in the growing
global markets for renewable energy and energy
efficiency. SEFI's report last year underlined how
capital is mobilizing towards these low carbon sectors,
with total transactions surpassing the $100 billion
milestone in 2006 and reaching nearly $160 billion in
2007.
- In collaboration with the United Nations Foundation
and Shell Foundation, UNEP helped two of India's largest
banking groups - Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank - create
a credit market for helping rural villages finance the
purchase of solar lighting systems. 100,000 people in
southern India have benefited and the initiative is now
self-financing with some 20 banks involved. The
Programme was awarded the prestigious Energy Globe Award
in 2007.
- In Tunisia a similar initiative has created a
credit market for bank financing of solar hot water
systems. Over 20,000 systems have been financed,
affecting about 100,000 people and increasing market
volume more than 700% since 2004. The positive
results have led the government to enact legislation
aimed at decreasing the country's reliance on using
Liquid Petroleum Gas for water heating and instead make
the shift to solar.
- UNEP and partners such as UNDP and the World Bank
are also building the capacity of some 30 developing
countries to access the carbon markets for financing
climate friendly infrastructure. These multi-million
dollar initiatives, including ones under the Nairobi
Framework, fall under the umbrella of the CD4CDM
programme - the largest initiative of its kind within
the development community.
- The geothermal electricity potential in Africa is
estimated at 7,000MW, much of it in the part of the Rift
Valley that runs from Kenya to Djibouti. With
funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), UNEP
and the World Bank are about to launch the African Rift
Geothermal Facility (ARGeo). The $17 million project
will underwrite the risks of drilling for steam and in
doing so build the confidence of the private sector to
build geothermal power stations.
- UNEP and the GEF's Solar and Wind Resource
Assessment have 'found' 10 million MW of solar and wind
energy in 26 developing countries available for private
sector development.
- With $20 million in GEF and UN Foundation support,
UNEP is also working with the Asian and African
Development Banks to leverage private sector financial
flows towards clean energy entrepreneurs. Over 50
entrepreneurial businesses specializing in clean energy
technologies and services have been financed to date in
Africa, Brazil and China
Evolving UNEP
Other key issues on the table in
Monaco include the approval of UNEP's new Medium-Term
Strategy for 2010-2013. It is designed to evolve the
institution into a more efficient, focused, effective
and results based environmental body of the United
Nations better equipped to deal with the sustainability
challenges of the 21st century.
Ministers will also address the issue of
International Environment Governance and how well UNEP
is placed to address the challenges and opportunities
outlined in the recently published landmark report,
Global Environment Outlook-4.
Chemicals and Waste Challenges
Also on the table are reports on
improved funding for the Strategic Approach to
International Chemicals Management and the extent to
which the international community is moving forward on
the management of the hazardous heavy metal mercury.
Ministers will also be presented with a key report on
tackling illegal international trade in hazardous
substances alongside one outlining recommendations on
how to improve waste management including recycling in
developing economies.
UNEP Year Book 2008 - An Overview of Our
Changing Environment
This year's Year Book will be
presented to ministers and the media. It includes a
Global Overview highlighting emerging climate change
concerns including the way rising CO2 emissions are
triggering acidification of the seas and oceans.
The 2008 Feature Focus reflects on how market and
financial mechanisms are evolving and discusses barriers
to progress but also underscores the enormous economic
opportunities from improved efficiencies and innovations
in consumption and production patterns.
The Emerging Challenges section examines how feedback
mechanisms in the Earth's climate system, for example
methane releases from thawing Artic permafrost and
marine hydrate deposits, might amplify global warming in
the future.
Green Jobs - Towards Sustainable Work in a
Low-Carbon World
UNEP in partnership with the ILO
and the International Trades Union Confederation will
also be launching a preliminary report from the Green
Jobs Initiative on how an emerging Green Economy is
generating new employment opportunities in agriculture,
construction, engineering and transportation.
Global Civil Society Forum
The meeting will be preceded on 19
February by the 9th Global Civil Society Forum whose
steering committee includes Professor Michael Koech,
Sustainable Development and Environment Network of
Kenya; Dr Mahmood Khwaja, Sustainable Development Policy
Institute, Pakistan and Ms. Zhang Hehe, Friends of
Nature, China.
Other members are Ms Sascha
Gabizon, Women in Europe for a Common Future, Germany;
Mr. Jan-Gustav Strandenaes, Norway; Ms Esther Neuhaus,
Brazilian Forum of NGOs and Social Movements for
Sustainable Development, Brazil.
Art for the Environment
Initiative
A groundbreaking touring art
exhibition, reflecting the climate theme and entitled
"Melting Ice / A Hot Topic: Envisioning Change", will be
shown at the Office of Cultural Affairs in Monaco
throughout the environment ministers' meet and on until
16 March.
The unique exhibition, a partnership between the
Natural World Museum and UNEP which was first shown on
World Environment Day last year at the Nobel Peace
Centre in Oslo, brings together leading artists from the
developed and developing world.
Notes to
Editors
The 10th Special Session of the
UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment
Forum http://www.unep.org/gc/gcss-x/
The Principality of Monaco's host
country site http://www.unep2008.gouv.mc/pnue/wwwnew.nsf/HomeGb
9th Global Civil Society Forum http://www.unep.org/civil_society/GCSF/indexGCSF9.asp
Natural World Museum http://www.artintoaction.org/about.html
Journalists who wish to attend
should be accredited - please see: http://www.unep.org/gc/gcss-x/media.asp
Press conferences are scheduled
every day at 1pm. Journalists who cannot follow the
daily conferences on site will have the opportunity to
phone in, listen live and ask questions. Interested
journalists should contact Robert Bisset (see
below).
For More Information Please Contact
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson/Head of Media, on +254
733 632755, when traveling +41 79 596 57 37 or E-mail:
nick.nuttall@unep.org
Robert Bisset, UNEP Spokesperson
for Europe, on tel: +33 6 2272 5842 or E-mail
robert.bisset@unep.fr
Or Anne-France White, Associate
Information Officer, on Tel: +254 20 762 3088, Mobile:
+254 728 600 494, or e-mail:
anne-france.white@unep.org
UNEP press release 2008/02
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