UN: Carbon neutral network unveiled

Four nations and a clutch of cities and corporations unveiled a Web-based information hub on Thursday to help meet a pledge to radically de-carbonize their economies in the coming decades.

The Carbon Neutral Network was unveiled at an international meeting of environment ministers, gathered in Monaco for a special session of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) focussing on global warming.

Norway & Iceland in the lead
Costa Rica, Iceland, Norway and New Zealand are the founding nations of “CN Net,” designed as an information exchange for nations, local governments and businesses which seek to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions to zero.

“Climate neutrality is an idea whose time has come,” said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

The movement will be driven, he predicted, not just by the urgent need to address climate change but by “the abundant economic opportunities emerging for those willing to embrace a transition to a green economy.”

Zero emissions economies
CN Net’s founding members admitted facing unique problems on the road to “zero emissions” economies.

Norway’s dominate challenge, for example, is curbing oil- and gas-related emissions, whereas for New Zealand, agriculture represents 50 percent of its current greenhouse gases.

New Zealand’s tens of millions of livestock are major producers of methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2).

The country has said it will generate 90 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and halve per capita transport emissions by 2040 through the use of electric cars and biofuels.

CN Net “signifies a major step forward in creating a coordinated global response to climate change,” said Climate Change Minister David Parker.

Norway’s goal is to become climate neutral by 2030, two decades ahead of a previously set deadline.

One third of that target will be achieved through carbon offsets, the investment in carbon-reducing projects around the globe, said Environment Minister Erik Solheim.

At home, reduction of emissions — especially from oil production — will come through carbon capture and storage, a system for trapping carbon emissions underground, as well as expanded public transport and stricter fuel efficiency for vehicles, he said.

Iceland’s central challenge is transport and industry, including fishing and fish processing.

“We have effectively de-carbonized our energy production sector, and hope to do the same in the coming decades with other sectors of the economy,” said Environment Minister Thorunn Sveinbjarnardottir.

Iceland aims to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent before 2050. The country’s electricity production is already among the greenest on the globe.

Costa Rica’s target date for climate neutrality is 2021. It has put in place a mix of taxes and incentives to protect forests, and to encourage carbon storage and sequestration.

Cities to join network too
Joining these four nations in CN Net are the cities of Arendal in Norway, Vancouver on the west coast of Canada, Vaxjo in Sweden and Rizhao in northern China.

Close to 100 percent of urban housing in Rizhao, in Shandong Province, already has solar heaters. Compared to 2000, the amount of energy used per unit of GDP has fallen by almost a third and C02 emissions by almost half.

The five companies joining the CN Net are: Co-Operative Financial Services, Britain; Interface Inc, of the United States; Natura, Brazil; Nedbank, South Africa and Senoko Power, Singapore.

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