HIGH-LEVEL BEIJING CONFERENCE OPENS TOMORROW WITH FOCUS ON NEED FOR FASTER

DEVELOPMENT, DEPLOYMENT OF EFFICIENT ‘GREEN’ CLIMATE TECHNOLOGIES

A high-level international Conference on accelerating the development and deployment of the clean and efficient technologies needed to tackle climate change opens tomorrow in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The Conference is organized by the Government of China and the United Nations as a forum for climate technology experts and policymakers to brainstorm on possible technology options critical for negotiations towards a new global deal on climate change.  Countries have agreed that the international climate change negotiations should conclude in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Officially known as the “Beijing High-Level Conference on Climate Change:  Technology Development and Technology Transfer,” the meeting builds on the momentum gained in the United Nations climate change meetings of this past year.  Sessions will focus on the current status and development potential of key technologies, as well as obstacles preventing new technologies from being deployed in developing countries.  Participants will also discuss possible mechanisms to enhance international cooperation and overcome barriers to technology transfer.  Also on the programme are sessions devoted to the roles of, and potential collaboration between, the public and private sectors on technology transfer.

Stressing that climate change is a defining issue of our time, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message that, “The United Nations is proud to be co-organizing this gathering on a subject that is so crucial to our efforts to address climate change, particularly in developing countries.”  He expressed his appreciation to the Government of China for hosting the event.

“We will not make a dent in the problems of reducing greenhouse gas emissions or in coping with climate change unless we make the right technologies available throughout the world,” saysSha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.  “This Conference can help us find ways to ensure that people in all countries have the tools –- technological and financial –- to combat this global problem.”

“The Government of China considers technology transfer to be a high priority and would like to take a more sustainable development path than the one that resulted in the climate change impact we are now facing,” said Xie Zhenhua, Vice-Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China.  “For this reason we are pleased to support a productive and influential discussion that could lead to a strong outcome in technology markets around the world.”

The Beijing Conference is being held in the run-up to the next Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Poznan, Poland, in December 2008.  Important issues under discussion include capacity-building for developing countries and technology transfer for mitigation and adaptation.  More than 30 ministerial-level representatives, four heads of UN agencies, and more than 800 participants from over 67 countries are participating in the Conference.

For information on the web: www.CCChina.gov.cn/BjCTC/en; www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/energy/op/beijing_climatechange_workshop08.htm.

For more information, contact Dan Shepard, UN Department of Public Information, tel.:  212 963 9495; e-mail:  Shepard@un.org.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record