The United Nations (UN) General Secretary, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon invited the head of states of the countries of the world to a climate summit in New York on 23rd September 2014. This is an exceptional initiative in the long history of the UN where 120 heads of state will participate at the biggest gathering of world leaders. The purpose of this summit is not to settle a military conflict but to mitigate the war of our industrialized societies against nature.
The President of WBA Heinz Kopetz adds:
“WBA congratulates Ban Ki Moon for this initiative. We hope that this summit raises the awareness of the political decision makers around the globe about the severe threat climate change exerts on the future development of our societies. The fast transformation of the energy system to renewable energies is the only successful strategy. This should be one of the outcomes of this summit.”
Many governments are still of the opinion that business as usual approach is satisfactory and that a few green initiatives will be sufficient to cope with the problem of climate change. But this perception is wrong. As the emissions caused by burning fossil fuels are the main cause of the increase of the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere leading to climate change, the logical answer can only be: let the fossil fuels be in the ground where they belong and replace them by renewable energy from wind, solar, biomass, hydro and geothermal. There are more than enough of these renewable sources on the globe to cover all energy needs of a growing population, but we need political willingness in favour of these energies instead of supporting fossil fuels by subsidies, tax exemptions and other government policies.
For climate sceptics, it is a trade-off between climate change action and economic growth. But the recent launch of the report – ‘Better growth, Better climate: the new Climate Economy’ by UN has shown that it is possible that both climate action and growing world’s economy go hand in hand. Speaking at the release, former President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón said “The transition to a low carbon economy can improve the quality of growth, including the creation of new jobs, cleaner area and better health. A growing number of businesses, cities and countries are showing us it is indeed possible”. WBA has been actively advocating this stance since its inception and we are of the view that the development of bioenergy and other renewables can lead to better economic prosperity, cleaner environment and eliminating poverty.
The renewable technologies are available and are being improved further year by year; what is missing globally is the political will to use them. WBA hopes that this summit will strengthen the forces around the world to go for a true energy transition towards renewable energies.
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Heinz Kopetz, President WBA, +436506806988,
hg.kopetz@netway.atKarin Haara, Executive Director WBA, +46705432641,
karin.haara@worldbioenergy.org