Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development Columbia University, USA
Countries of the world are facing great challenges and must be prepared for concessions, for the UN Climate Conference, held in Copenhagen in December, to be successful.
Economic growth puts huge demands on the world. With annual growth of four percent, the economy will double in 18 years. Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs of Columbia University observed a number of challenges from this development.
- At the time when Vattenfall was born, the Earth had a population of just over one billion. Today we are an additional five billion. We have inhabitated the planet with a multitude of needs, and now the earth is ’jammed with people’. This will cause a sense of hopelessness with people. We cannot go on living our lives the way we do today.
Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs of Columbia University
- While we cannot just stop this development, we have a world where a large share of the population are struggling to survive, and where water is in short supply in many places, and where not enough food is produced, said Professor Sachs.
According to his research, there are four great needs in the world that must be fulfilled. The first is a completely new energy system, based on fossil fuels and nuclear power, but without climate-threatening emissions. Further, poverty must be fought. The world also has to adjust to the climate changes that are inevitable, including the proliferation of deserts. He also called for a new code of ethics for economic and political life, where decisions are based on science and knowledge, with sustainability as the guiding principle.
Richardo Lagos, UN Special Envoy on Climate Change
Ricardo Lagos is UN Special Envoy on Climate Change. He talked about what he believes will be essential for the Copenhagen Climate Conference to be successful where the previous summit at Kyoto failed.
- We should no longer discuss who is the biggest culprit here. The climate issue is everyone’s issue. The United States will not resolve this alone, and the rest of the world will not do it without the U.S. We need to find a compromise, and the solution is that countries adopt voluntary goals that they pledge to accomplish.
He mentioned the by the EU for a 20 percent reduction in emissions by 2020, and the U.S. Congress vote to reduce emissions by 17 percent compared to 2005. But contributions from developing countries will also be required.
For instance, he called for a declaration from China to increase energy use by just 0.8 percent for each percent of GNP growth, and that Latin American countries will voluntarily set limits on deforestation, including the Amazon region.
- I believe that we will see a global paradigm shift, where the progress of a country is measured by its efforts to limit emissions, said Ricardo Lagos.
Tags: Climate change, CO2, CO2 emission, Energy and Climate Week, greenhouse gases, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Ricardo Lagos, Stockholm, UN Climate Conference, Vattenfall
