Tackling climate change

(by Peter Beckingham via BusinessWorld)

Global talks don’t have a great reputation for achievement. But the G-8 climate change talks in Italy broke new ground, and offer an opportunity to prove the doubters wrong.

The collective commitment by countries such as the United States, Japan, and the UK to cut emissions by 80% by 2050, and work to avoid temperature increases above two degrees centigrade, is important.

But what now matters is that countries such as the United Kingdom and the Philippines show that we mean it when we say we will cut our emissions.

The Philippines is taking steps to tackle climate change, with no less than the President herself assuming overall responsibility as chair of the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change. In terms of legislation, the Philippine Renewable Energy (RE) Act of 2008 supports the country’s goal of 60% energy self-sufficiency by 2010. The RE Act could open doors for the country to capture part of more than US$70 billion investments in renewable energy development world-wide by providing incentives to investors, equipment manufacturers, and suppliers. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is also implementing an extensive campaign for a low-carbon economy.

I hope that there will be an opportunity for President Arroyo to discuss these important developments when she visits London in September. The governments of the Philippines and the United Kingdom have found common ground in this area, as both countries are geographically vulnerable. Although studies show that the effects of climate change will be felt most in the poor and developing countries, developed countries will not be immune. The mounting evidence world-wide is what drives the UK to push for a strong global deal at Copenhagen this December.

In combating climate change, we have already broken new ground ourselves in the United Kingdom. We’re on track to save twice the greenhouse gases we promised under Kyoto. We’ve tried to tackle some of the toughest environmental dilemmas head on, such as coal — where we have proposed conditions that will mean no new coal-fired power stations can be built without capturing a substantial proportion of their emissions and locking them permanently underground.

We also like to think we’ve learnt from others who have found success — such as the success in Germany helping people generate their own clean power. Like them, we will start to pay guaranteed rates for households, businesses, farms, and schools to feed unused clean power into the grid.

But every country needs to step up its efforts to stay on track. So the low-carbon transition plan of the UK government launched recently has five-year limits on the country’s total emissions, set in law.

This plan has at its heart a focus on new jobs and new business opportunities, as well as increasing our energy security. We’re taking this action now because we firmly believe that there’s an overriding economic and financial imperative to cutting carbon. During a global downturn, it’s this choice that will determine the path to economic prosperity and sustainable development for all nations. It must therefore include a massive increase in renewable energy, greener transport and a firm focus on helping businesses make the most of low carbon opportunities.

Britain has taken advantage of the demand for green projects, which opened major opportunities for British businesses to create jobs in the new low carbon economy. This has grown into a £3-trillion market employing nearly 900,000 people in the UK.

Recently the UK government sponsored a trade mission to the Philippines and flew in representatives of UK-based firms who are interested to invest in the local renewable energy sector.

Already there are a number of British companies here in the Philippines involved in alternative energy. Global Green Power Plc. is setting up plants in Panay, Nueva Ecija, and Pangasinan to convert biomass into electricity. Bronzeoak Phils., Inc. has set up an operation in San Carlos, Negros Occidental, where they will convert biomass to ethanol, and is pouring in P8 billion to build two more ethanol plants in the Philippines.

The British government is also supporting some small-scale projects in the Philippines to reduce carbon emissions, which will hopefully catch on and become a nation-wide imperative. In partnership with Green Renewable Independent Power Producer, Inc. (GRIPP), the British government through its embassy in Manila donated an electric jeepney to the city of Puerto Princesa in Palawan, and sponsored the training of the drivers of all the cities participating in GRIPP’s Climate Friendly Cities project.

The UK has published its manifesto for a global deal — to make clear that it is on the side arguing for ambition, effectiveness to make sure countries stick to their commitments and money goes where it makes most difference; and fairness, with both private and public finance to help the transition in the poorest countries.

But not all countries are able to finance the actions needed to reduce emissions, and adapt to the impacts of climate change that are already being felt. That’s why British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently proposed a way forward for developed and developing countries to agree on new mechanisms to pay for tackling climate change. He urged countries to work together on a global figure of around $100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing countries reduce their emissions, tackle deforestation and adapt to the climate change already being felt.

With the joint commitment from the biggest developed countries and the biggest developing countries, agreeing that the goal of any deal should be limiting climate change to two degrees, we know that a global deal is a step closer. There are less than 150 days to go before the world gathers to agree a new global climate change deal in Copenhagen.

Fulfilling the deal, and preventing the worst of dangerous climate change, will take not just a transition from every country, but from every community and every business. The time for transition is now.

Peter Beckingham is the British ambassador to the Philippines.

For the very latest in green jobs from across Asia and globally please click here