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johannesburg, monday 2nd sept.
earth summit dumps on climate
Environmental campaigners reacted with
fury today to the news that no target for
increasing renewable energy use has been
agreed by Ministers.
Following long and contentious
negotiations, all reference to a target for
renewable energy has been dropped from the
section of the Action Plan dealing with
energy and climate policy. Instead, the text
calls for subsidies for "cleaner" fossil
fuels and large hydroelectric schemes to be
provided to developing countries.
Campaigners, and a group of countries led by
Brazil, had insisted that the minimum target
necessary to combat man-made climate change
was for 10% primary energy supply to be
produced from new renewable sources by
2010.
Despite ratifying the Kyoto Protocol,
Japan played an important role in formulating
the compromise text together with the United
States and OPEC. The agreed text contains a
reference to the ninth session of the
Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD9).
CSD9 identified both fossil fuels and nuclear
power as types of energy that can support
sustainable development.
The deal also fails to identify a target
and programme of action supporting the
provision of energy services to the 2 billion
people currently without access to these
services. Some negotiators have speculated
that an absurd horse-trade occurred between
the water and energy targets. It will be
impossible to deliver on the agreed water and
sanitation target without providing clean and
affordable energy services to the same people
that need clean water.
Commenting, Kate Hampton, Climate
Campaigner for Friends of the Earth
International said:
"The Earth Summit has just seen a terrible
betrayal of the fight against climate change.
This is grim news for the millions of people
across the world whose homes, jobs and lives
depend on a reduction in human emissions of
climate changing gases. Many of the most
affected do not even have access to the kind
of energy services this summit was supposed
to provide."
"We are bitterly angry that the OPEC
countries, Japan and the United States have
combined in this way to help wreck the
world's environment and endanger the security
of our common home. The deal is as stupid and
self-destructive as the man who climbed into
an oven and switched up the heat. The
resulting text is so bad that those countries
who care about the environment should simply
refuse to have anything to do with it,"
Hampton added.
contact in Johannesburg:
Kate Hampton (climate campaign
coordinator) +27 72 401 5388
Ian Willmore (Media) +27 72 401 5386
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