Transport can help propel world to greener future

The Economic Times , Friday, January 16, 2009
Correspondent : REUTERS
TOKYO: Shipping, airlines and road transport need to clean up their emissions and help drive governments toward policies to fight global warming, a top UN official said on Thursday.

The transport sector accounts for more than 20 percent of mankind's carbon dioxide emissions, and further growth is likely given rising demand for cars, goods and travel in developing countries.

Transport will also be a key part of a broader U.N. climate pact about 190 nations will try to agree on at the end of the year during talks on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

"There can be no doubt that the transport sector will come under intense pressure and needs to dramatically change direction," Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told a global transport ministerial gathering in Tokyo on Thursday.

"Transport industries should no longer find themselves in the position of beggars for billions of taxpayer's dollars. Instead, they need to come back into pole position of drivers of economic growth, through the production of smart and efficient cars, trains, ships and planes," he said in a speech.

"The transport sector is at a juncture," he said, adding the key question was how the industry could influence regulators to back greener policies "rather than digging itself deeper into a hole" as airlines, shippers and car makers battled shrinking revenue because of the global financial crisis.

Transport ministers from 21 major countries are holding a three-day meeting in Tokyo until Friday. They account to about 70 percent of CO2 emissions of the global transport sector, according to Japan's transport ministry.

China, believed to be now the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, pulled out at the last minute, insisting rich nations lead the charge in emissions cuts, a Japanese transport ministry official told reporters.

De Boer said he expected only a broad political message to come out of the talks on how the transport sector was tackling climate change.

"It's early in the debate for a number of countries to commit to a statement," he told Reuters earlier.

Airlines contribute about two percent of global CO2 emissions by mankind and are expected to keep rising because of growing demand for air travel, despite aircraft becoming more efficient.

Shipping's share of global emissions is about 3 percent, equivalent to total industrial emissions from Germany, but the industry is trying to trim fuel use through better hull designs, cleaner fuels and simple measures such as installing more efficient lighting onboard.

In addition, separate meetings under a UN body aiming to report to the climate meeting at year's end in Copenhagen will look into greater fuel efficiency and emissions trading for shipping.

De Boer said countries attending the gathering were already taking actions to limit transport emissions, not only to address climate change, but also costs, public health and energy security.

"I'm struck by the fact this meeting of transport ministers universally recognizes their sector needs to be a part of the solution to climate change not a part of the problem of climate change," he said.

 
SOURCE : Friday, January 16, 2009
 


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