Resting on Climate Laurels
February 17, 2007
Western, industrialized nations are mainly to blame for the world's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, Achim Steiner told Germany's mass-market Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
"In Europe we've cherished the illusion in recent years that 'we've done enough,'" he said in the interview to be published Sunday.
Steiner praised Berlin for making the fight against climate change a cornerstone of its six-month EU presidency, but also warned Germany, the EU's largest polluter, that it needed to do more to lower emissions.
Steiner's comments echo those of the European Union's Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas who two weeks ago said Germany must "be aware of its responsibility and its position as a role model in the fight against climate change."
Setting realistic goals
Largely at the behest of the country's automotive and other industries, German politicians have called for the EU to set manageable and realistic climate change goals as the timeline set by the 1990 Kyoto Protocol comes to an end in 2012.
The European Commission presented a far-reaching plan to curb CO2 emissions across the 27-member bloc by 20 percent by 2020, a goal that was met with skepticism in Germany.
"Yes, we favor ecology and responsibility for the future, but let us stick to what we can do," said Social Democratic Party head Kurt Beck in a speech on Saturday. "Let's stay reasonable, yes, but let's use our technology worldwide so that other countries can grow with less CO2."
Placing blame where it's due
But Steiner warned industrialized nations, which he said are responsible for the globe's current climate problem, not to put the burden of lowering emissions on developing nations.
"The climate problem of today was not caused by China but above all by Western nations," he said. "So the first step has to come from us. Moreover, it's wrong to assume that China is not interested in climate protection."
He added that China has begun implementing a plan to increase its use of renewable energy, and the United States, which is not a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, is also making advances in the environmentally friendly technologies.
"The Americans and Asians are catching up quickly and are becoming strong business competitors (with green technologies)," Steiner said. "We've only been looking at China through brown smog colored glasses, but there are already cities being planned (in China) that will have zero CO2 emissions."