By Joydeep Gupta, IANS
Bali : Gro Harlem Brundtland, the UN secretary general’s special envoy on climate change, Wednesday said here that industrialists are ready to work towards reducing carbon emissions but government regulations are making it difficult for them to adopt cleaner technology.
“Businesses are experiencing barriers from governments around the world when they want to move to cleaner technology or renewable energy projects. Government regulations have not kept pace with the needs of today,” Brundtland told IANS in an exclusive interview.
Brundtland was sitting in the front row as the UN secretary general, heads of states, and over 130 ministers gathered with nearly 11,000 delegates for the high-level segment of the UN climate change conference in Bali that is expected to come up with a roadmap to fight global warming.
“I have a specific mission (in Bali). Business leaders are calling on governments to act on climate change. I’m here to bring businesses and governments together to fight global warming,” she said.
Brundtland chaired the World Commission on Environment and Development and brought out the seminal 1987 report Our Common Future, which woke the world up to the perils being faced by the earth due to human activities.
“I was already afraid of climate change (in 1987). That’s why I called for a climate convention at Toronto. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up in 1989 as a result of that convention,” she said.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: Do you see a specific role for yourself here in Bali?
A: I have a specific mission. Business leaders are calling on governments to act on climate change. The perception that industry was dragging its feet and impeding the fight against climate change is no longer true, though it may have been true 10 years ago. So, I’m here to bring businesses and governments together to fight global warming.
Q: What has brought about this change in thinking on the part of business leaders?
A: The realisation that we are all in it together. Climate change does not spare anybody.
Q: Exactly how can the business leaders help?
A: Today, 86 percent of all investment in the world is from the private sector. So, if we want to move towards a future that uses less carbon – as we have to – private investors and industry must obviously play the key role.
Q: Do you feel they are ready to do that?
A: Yes, they are. The problem is, businesses are experiencing barriers from governments around the world when they want to move to cleaner technology or renewable energy projects. Government regulations have not kept pace with the needs of today.
So governments must listen to what private industry has to say about the practical issues when it comes to fighting global warming. That is why we have decided that from the next COP (conference of parties to the UN framework Convention on Climate Change) we’re going to invite business leaders to all our sessions. We have to work together to address climate change and must continue to do so.
Q: Are government regulations the only problems being faced by industry in this regard? Isn’t it true that markets in renewable energy, for example, are not developed enough?
A: Economic and legal mechanisms are two sides of the same coin. They have to be developed hand in hand.
Q: When you chaired the Brundtland Commission and brought out Our Common Future in 1987, did you expect this level of global warming would take place in the next 20 years and that it would become such a major global issue?
A: Not quite, though I was already afraid of climate change. After Our Common Future came out, in the next two years, the evidence of global warming was already increasing. That’s why I called for a climate convention at Toronto at that time. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up in 1989 as a result of that convention.
Q: Did you think the climate would change so quickly?
A: Nobody did. But now the latest IPCC report has shown the climate has changed even in the last six months. The drama has been evolving faster than the most alarmist scientists had predicted. And we all have to take action right now.