The way forward may be more growth oriented than many suppose.
Ban Ki-moon: A new green economics
By Ban Ki-moon -
Published 12:00 am PST Tuesday, December 4, 2007
We have read the science. Global warming is real, and we are a prime cause.
We have heard the warnings. Unless we act, now, we face serious consequences. Polar ice will melt. Sea levels will rise. A third of our plant and animal species could vanish. There will be famine in Africa and Central Asia.
Largely lost in the debate is the good news: We can do something -- more easily, and at far less cost, than most of us imagine.
These are the conclusions of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the scientific body that recently shared the Nobel Peace Prize. It is sobering reading. But let's remember its optimistic bottom line as world leaders gather in Bali this week, seeking an agreement on climate change that all nations can embrace.
We do not yet know what such an accord might look like. Should it urge governments to tax greenhouse gas emissions or endorse a global carbon-trading system? Should it provide mechanisms for preventing deforestation, accounting for 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, or help less developed nations adapt to the inevitable effects of global warming? The answer, of course, is some variation on all these things -- and much, much more. But at Bali, the goal is simpler and more immediate.
We must set an agenda -- create a road map to a better future, coupled with a timeline that produces a deal by 2009.
In this, it helps to have a vision of how the future might look if we succeed. That is not merely a cleaner, healthier, more secure world for all. Handled correctly, our fight against global warming could set the stage for an eco-friendly transformation of the global economy -- one that spurs growth and development rather than crimps it, as many nations fear.
