AT UN DEBATE, EXPERTS WEIGH CLEAN ENERGY, WATER STRATEGIES TO HALT ‘RUNAWAY’ CLIMATE CHANGE

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From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 16 May 2013 15:00:01 -0400
Subject: AT UN DEBATE, EXPERTS WEIGH CLEAN ENERGY, WATER STRATEGIES TO
HALT 'RUNAWAY' CLIMATE CHANGE
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

AT UN DEBATE, EXPERTS WEIGH CLEAN ENERGY, WATER STRATEGIES TO HALT
'RUNAWAY' CLIMATE CHANGENew York, May 16 2013 3:00PMWith dire
warnings likely to match or exceed the worst fears about the effects
of global warming, environment and development experts gathered today
at United Nations Headquarters to debate the twin challenge of curbing
climate change while sustaining economic growth.

"The fundamental challenge of our time is to end extreme poverty in
this generation and significantly narrow the global gap between rich
and poor without ruing the environmental basis for our survival,"
General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic
<"http://www.un.org/en/ga/president/67/statements/statements/May/climatechange16052013.shtml">said
as he opened the Thematic Debate Sustainable Development and Climate
Change: Practical Solutions in the Energy-Water Nexus.

"We need to embrace the path to sustainability, crafting a new global
partnership in which no nation is left behind, and no country opts
out," he told the gathering which featured UN officials, a host of
environment and energy Ministers, as well as a diverse mix of experts
that included Jeffrey Sachs, Director of Colombia University's Earth
Institute, and Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, Chairman of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Mr. Jeremic set the tone for the day-long discussion by telling the
participants that scientists have confirmed some of the worst fears
with the recent determination that the level of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere has risen above 400 parts per million for the first time in
more than three million years. "The evidence is overwhelming: global
temperatures are rising and extreme weather events are becoming
commonplace," he said.

"We cannot afford business as usual – for growth along the current
path will lead us to catastrophe, not riches," he said.

To safeguard the world from runaway climate change, he said the
international community will need to "de-couple economic growth from
our dependence on carbon-based energy systems, which currently provide
80 percent of our primary power needs". Yet, as the concentration of
C0₂ increases, the Earth's ecosystems will change with
"perilous rapidity." Freshwater sources will decrease as rivers and
aquifers dried up.

Highlighting the link between water and energy, he stressed the need
to invest in innovative technologies and strategies to ensure
countries can continue growing economically without harming the
environment.

"Our water problems are closely linked to our energy problems. Water
supply requires large amounts of power, whether for pumping,
treatment, or desalination. Similarly, energy supplies often
critically depend on water – for hydroelectricity, cooling, or
irrigation for biomass," he said.

"We need more energy, not less, to end poverty and raise global living
standards. But that power must be low carbon, if we are to remain
within planetary boundaries. New technologies are required in order to
remake the energy delivery systems so that by mid-century, they
produce perhaps three times today's output, but with less than half of
the emissions."

In addition to new technologies, Mr. Jeremic said there are also
organizational and economic challenges, as Governments must give the
right incentives to the private sector to rationalize water use and
switch to low-carbon energy systems.

"This calls for a new direction and new strategies. I believe this
debate can be an important step in moving us closer to the post-2015
starting line, by directing our attention to the innovative science,
cutting-edge technologies, and new business models related to the
energy-water nexus."

The debate is part of the commitments made by countries last year at
the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), in which
countries pledged to implement measures to integrate the three
dimensions of sustainable development—namely economic, social, and
environmental.

"We have the tools to save the planet from human-induced environmental
devastation. What we lack, however, is a fundamental commitment to use
them in coherent ways, as well as a full appreciation of how little
time we have left before it gets too late," Mr. Jeremic added.May 16
2013 3:00PM
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