Common Interest, Common Sense

In the midst of global economic turmoil, scientific projections about the consequences of a warmer planet may seem more remote to countries negotiating a climate change treaty this week in Buenos Aires. Fears that warming temperatures could raise sea levels, alter rainfall patterns and wreak havoc on food production systems could temporarily take a back seat to the social and economic concerns posed by the global financial crisis.

But economic turmoil will eventually settle down, as it has in the past. A change in climate, however, could stay with us for generations. Industrialized countries were correct to assume responsibilities in Kyoto last year to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Now they need to ratify and implement their commitments.

It is entirely possible for economies to grow and to provide increased energy services while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting the environment. Some countries, including China, Mexico, Brazil and the United Kingdom, are already taking bold steps to use cleaner energy and improve energy efficiency. Developing countries are doing so to contribute to their own sustainable development. But they need to do more, as do industrialized countries.

It is not true, as some commentators maintain, that developing countries have done little to reduce their emissions. With assistance from organizations such as the United Nations Development Program, they are adopting energy conservation measures and new technologies that could help fuel their development without contributing to global warming.

A number of developing countries are taking a serious look at expanding renewable energy options to provide electricity to more than 1.5 billion people living outside conventional power grids. In Zimbabwe, for example, an entire solar industry is being created to provide energy services to rural communities. Brazil, a pioneer in the use of ethanol, is developing new methods to harness biomass.

China, home to 21.5% of the world's population, has sharply reduced subsidies for coal and has improved energy efficiency in its industrial sector by modernizing or closing down highly polluting enterprises. Without these and other actions, China's emissions of carbon dioxide, a principal greenhouse gas, would be 50% higher than it is today. China emits 13.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions. That is second only to the U.S. (25%), and China has been projected to overtake the U.S. in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 at its current rate of economic development. China's accumulated concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, however, may not catch up to the U.S. until the middle of the next century.