PRESS CONFERENCE ON OPENING OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION’S

 

HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT

 

The debate about whether the world faced a real problem with climate change was over, and it would be “completely immoral” to question the need to move forward at a much stronger pace to address the issues.  The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change and former Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland, told correspondents today.

Briefing at a headquarters press conference, sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations, upon the opening of the high-level segment of the Commission on Sustainable Development, Dr. Brundtland, who also headed the World Health Organization (WHO) until July 2003, said that climate change was a challenge to the Commission on Sustainable Development, the world at large and all countries.  There was no alternative to a United Nations-based international framework to deal with that issue. 

That was on the Secretary-General’s mind, she said, in calling on the three envoys to help him see to it that the world could respond in a multilateral fashion and create the basis for the necessary new agreement that was broader, included more actors and that was constructed with sufficient political support.  The meeting in Bali needed to move the world a strong step forward, and everyone had to act now.

(On 2 May, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General announced the appointment of three Special Envoys of the Secretary-General for Climate Change.  In addition to Dr. Brundtland, the other two are:  former Chilean President, Ricardo Lagos Escobar and former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea, Han Seung-soo.)

Dr. Brundtland said that adopting a new agreement could take a couple of years, so talks should begin now.  Then, too, the ratification process would take years.  Between now and 2012, many tons of emissions would rise into the air and, wherever they originated, they would affect the climate.  What Norway had already decided to do needed to be scaled up and done elsewhere. 

The year 2007 was going to be critical, she said.  The Secretary-General had been very clear about his determination and his priority to see climate change and the climate issue as a key agenda for him personally, and for the United Nations as a whole.  This year was a key opportunity to rise to the occasion.

Joining Dr. Brundtland and welcoming her vision and energy in pushing world leaders forward was the Minister of International Development of Norway, Erik Solheim.  Equal opportunity and equal distribution were at the heart of the problem, he said.  Unless that was handled, it would not be possible to move forward.  Even the Commission on Sustainable Development was stalemated on a matter that should be easily agreed –- energy efficiency –- and that was due to a lack of trust.  If there was trust, there could be an immediate agreement on targets and how to achieve them.

He said the Norwegian Government would work in the field to assist poorer countries to adapt to climate change.  When it came to mitigation, there were three main areas.  One was energy efficiency, where the European Union had taken the lead.  More money would be made available bilaterally to poorer countries, and globally through international funds, including through the World Bank and the United Nations system, and through specific funds for energy efficiency.  If every country could produce more with less, “we would move rapidly ahead”, so efforts should be made to assist countries to reach the Japanese level of efficiency, he said.

In the second area, renewables, Norway also had much to contribute, he said.  Hydroelectric power was one such area.  Unfortunately, there had not been any major such power established in Africa in the past 15 years, possibly owing to mistaken policies of the World Bank and other factors.  That was not to say that every hydroelectric power plant was good or that there were not environmental challenges to that form of power -- there were.  Still, Africa must move forward in that regard.  The other area was solar.

Asked what had been meant by a lack of trust and not reaching any goals at this point, Dr. Brundtland said the lack of trust was a general statement that had applied, not only to the issue of energy efficiency or the problems within the Commission at the moment, but also more generally to the lack of progress in negotiations to find the necessary solutions for global challenges across the board.  The issue of climate change was cross-sectoral, applying to key questions in each country and involving all levels of Government.  Suspicions between groups of countries had prevailed for years now, and that lack of trust needed to be addressed.

Mr. Solheim added that, at the moment, he was afraid that the Commission on Sustainable Development meeting might be underperforming, in the sense that expectations among citizens were much higher.  Climate change was at the very top of the agenda of the political debate everywhere, and the expectation from citizens was that the politicians should deliver; not big words and speeches, but concrete results.  Climate change was an area in which it was possible to move forward; it was not threatening to anyone.  The reason it had not had been a lack of trust.

To a question, Mr. Solheim said that a lot should be done simultaneously.  Work should be done on the Kyoto mechanism, to reduce emissions back home and to assist poorer countries with funding for new technologies.  As part of those countries’ energy mix, they should be able to bypass at least one technological stage; otherwise, they should move directly towards solar and renewables, in the way that Africa, in another technological sphere, was leaving land lines behind and moving towards mobile phones.  That the private sector alone could invest in hydroelectric power in Africa was wrong.  Now, there was broad international understanding that there must be public-private funding.

As for whether there was any consensus on who should chair the Commission and whether new candidates were being sought, Mr. Solheim said that, as far as he knew, it was not yet settled.  From the Norwegian perspective, he did not think Zimbabwe was the right country to chair the Commission in the coming period.

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For information media • not an official record