Four nations, four cities take 'climate neutral' pledge

Yahoo News 21 Feb 08;

Senoko Power, Singapore is one of the five companies joing CN Net

Four nations and a clutch of cities and corporations unveiled a Web-based information hub on Thursday to help meet a pledge to radically de-carbonize their economies in the coming decades.

The Carbon Neutral Network was unveiled at an international meeting of environment ministers, gathered in Monaco for a special session of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) focussing on global warming.

Costa Rica, Iceland, Norway and New Zealand are the founding nations of "CN Net," designed as an information exchange for nations, local governments and businesses which seek to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions to zero.

"Climate neutrality is an idea whose time has come," said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

The movement will be driven, he predicted, not just by the urgent need to address climate change but by "the abundant economic opportunities emerging for those willing to embrace a transition to a green economy."

CN Net's founding members admitted facing unique problems on the road to "zero emissions" economies.

Norway's dominate challenge, for example, is curbing oil- and gas-related emissions, whereas for New Zealand, agriculture represents 50 percent of its current greenhouse gases.

New Zealand's tens of millions of livestock are major producers of methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2).

The country has said it will generate 90 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and halve per capita transport emissions by 2040 through the use of electric cars and biofuels.

CN Net "signifies a major step forward in creating a coordinated global response to climate change," said Climate Change Minister David Parker.

Norway's goal is to become climate neutral by 2030, two decades ahead of a previously set deadline.

One third of that target will be achieved through carbon offsets, the investment in carbon-reducing projects around the globe, said Environment Minister Erik Solheim.

At home, reduction of emissions -- especially from oil production -- will come through carbon capture and storage, a system for trapping carbon emissions underground, as well as expanded public transport and stricter fuel efficiency for vehicles, he said.

Iceland's central challenge is transport and industry, including fishing and fish processing.

"We have effectively de-carbonized our energy production sector, and hope to do the same in the coming decades with other sectors of the economy," said Environment Minister Thorunn Sveinbjarnardottir.

Iceland aims to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent before 2050. The country's electricity production is already among the greenest on the globe.

Costa Rica's target date for climate neutrality is 2021. It has put in place a mix of taxes and incentives to protect forests, and to encourage carbon storage and sequestration.

Joining these four nations in CN Net are the cities of Arendal in Norway, Vancouver on the west coast of Canada, Vaxjo in Sweden and Rizhao in northern China.

Close to 100 percent of urban housing in Rizhao, in Shandong Province, already has solar heaters. Compared to 2000, the amount of energy used per unit of GDP has fallen by almost a third and C02 emissions by almost half.

The five companies joining the CN Net are: Co-Operative Financial Services, Britain; Interface Inc, of the United States; Natura, Brazil; Nedbank, South Africa and Senoko Power, Singapore.

U.N. group sets up climate neutral forum
Gerard Wynn, Reuters 21 Feb 08;

MONACO (Reuters) - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a new online network on Thursday to help countries, cities and firms aiming to be "climate neutral" exchange ideas on ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The Climate Neutral Network will connect people around the world who have committed to become climate neutral by reducing and offsetting their emissions of the gases blamed for heating the planet, said Achim Steiner, head of UNEP.

"The idea is to share ideas," he said.

UNEP, which is hosting 154-nation climate talks in Monaco, aims to be climate neutral itself in 2008, with the whole United Nations due to follow.

Monaco said on Thursday it would become the fifth country to commit to carbon neutrality under the UNEP project, joining Costa Rica, Iceland, Norway and New Zealand.

"We aim very quickly to come up with climate neutrality for the principality ... we are joining (the project) today," environment minister Robert Calcagno told reporters.

Monaco, which famously hosts the high-octane Formula 1 motor-racing series each May, is making efforts to cut emissions by subsidizing solar power, among other projects.

Four cities in Sweden, Norway, China and Canada also joined the scheme on Thursday, and five companies.

Pressure from investors and the public has prompted many cities and companies to commit to cutting emissions, but some dismiss carbon neutrality as a publicity stunt or "greenwash."

Critics say carbon offsetting -- paying others to cut emissions on your behalf, for example by planting trees or building wind farms -- allow individuals, businesses and governments to avoid taking action themselves.

Norway's environment minister Erik Solheim said on Thursday that his country could not achieve its target of being climate neutral by 2030 without using offsetting.

"It's (offsetting) absolutely necessary," Solheim said.

The Monaco climate conference is the biggest since December, when nearly 200 countries agreed in Bali, Indonesia to launch two-year talks on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.

UNEP's Steiner said the new online network, which can be found at www.unep.org/climateneutral, would help those talks.

"As climate negotiations take place it's no reason to sit back and wait," he said .