Top transport officials from 21 major countries agreed on Friday to promote the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the sector to combat climate change, aiming to drive talks under a broader U.N. framework.
Shipping, airline and inland transport, which together contribute over 20 percent of mankind's CO2 emissions, will be a key part of a new U.N. climate pact that about 190 nations will try to agree on at the year-end as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
Participating countries included the G8 member countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and United States); Australia; India; Korea; and ASEAN member countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).
The officials met in Tokyo for a three-day meeting that ended on Friday. Malaysia attended as an observer, while China, now believed to be the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, pulled out at the last minute.
The global transport sector in the world emitted 6.45 Gt in 2006, representing 23% of total CO2 emissions, according to data provided by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), which hosted MEET. Of the 6.45 Gt, MEET participating countries (including China) were responsible for 59%, or 3.83 Gt. With allocated emissions from international aviation and maritime shipping, the MEET Conference (again, with China) covered 75% of all transport CO2 emissions.
According to IEA estimates, the worldwide transport CO2 emissions will increase by 1.4 times to 8.9 Gt by 2030, with transport CO2 emissions from developing countries doubling in the next quarter century.
"It is the first ministerial declaration ever and it was from major countries that account for about 70 percent of CO2 emissions from the global transport sector," said Japanese transport minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko, who chaired the meeting. "It is quite important to send a message that we have the political will (to address the transport sector)," Kaneko told a news conference at the end of the gathering.
Despite concerns among many developing countries that efforts to fight climate change will undermine economic growth, the officials agreed they could seek a low-carbon, low-pollution future for the transport sector while ensuring sustainable growth.
The ministerial statement said the countries recognise the need for the transport sector to act on CO2 emissions and air pollutants, which would also result in energy savings as well as health and safety benefits.
Kaneko said it was disappointing that China, which had insisted that the ministerial statement exclude emissions cut measures for developing countries and that rich nations lead the charge in lowering emissions, did not attend, though he did not think it affected the value of the meeting.
Several delegates agreed.
"Now we've got political support for the U.N.-led measures (for testing fuel efficiency or measuring greenhouse gas emissions on inland transport)," Juan Antonio Ramos Garcia, secretary of the United Nation's World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations, told Reuters.
Inland transport accounts for the biggest chunk of emissions from the overall transport sector, which is expected to grow further amid rising demand for cars, goods and travel in developing countries.
Airlines contribute about 2 percent of global CO2 emissions while shipping accounts for about 3 percent. Given the global nature of the aviation and shipping sectors, an international organisation for each sector is also holding separate talks apart from the nation-based post-Kyoto discussions.
"This agreement guarantees both competitiveness and economic growth going together with protection of the environment," Antonio Tajani, vice president of the European Commission, told Reuters on the sidelines of the news conference.
In an address at the conference, Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change said that “It is clear that a global deal on transport and climate change needs to be an integral part of the UNFCCC process, with all its 192 Parties.”
The signal we have heard from the scientific community is crystal clear: global greenhouse gas emissions need to peak over the next 10 to 15 years and drop by at least 50% against 2000 levels by the middle of the century in order to stabilize global mean temperature increases around 2-2.4 °C. For industrialized countries this means reductions by 2020 between 25 and 40% against 1990 levels. All of the current trends in transport fly in the face of what science tells us is required. Present political action in the transport sector is woefully inadequate.
...Transport industries should no longer find themselves in the position of beggars for billions of tax payer’s dollars. Instead, they need to come back into pole position of drivers of economic growth, through the production of smart and efficient cars, trains, ships and planes.
Source: Reuters via Green Car Congress
Shipping, airline and inland transport, which together contribute over 20 percent of mankind's CO2 emissions, will be a key part of a new U.N. climate pact that about 190 nations will try to agree on at the year-end as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
Participating countries included the G8 member countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and United States); Australia; India; Korea; and ASEAN member countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).
The officials met in Tokyo for a three-day meeting that ended on Friday. Malaysia attended as an observer, while China, now believed to be the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, pulled out at the last minute.
The global transport sector in the world emitted 6.45 Gt in 2006, representing 23% of total CO2 emissions, according to data provided by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), which hosted MEET. Of the 6.45 Gt, MEET participating countries (including China) were responsible for 59%, or 3.83 Gt. With allocated emissions from international aviation and maritime shipping, the MEET Conference (again, with China) covered 75% of all transport CO2 emissions.
According to IEA estimates, the worldwide transport CO2 emissions will increase by 1.4 times to 8.9 Gt by 2030, with transport CO2 emissions from developing countries doubling in the next quarter century.
"It is the first ministerial declaration ever and it was from major countries that account for about 70 percent of CO2 emissions from the global transport sector," said Japanese transport minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko, who chaired the meeting. "It is quite important to send a message that we have the political will (to address the transport sector)," Kaneko told a news conference at the end of the gathering.
Despite concerns among many developing countries that efforts to fight climate change will undermine economic growth, the officials agreed they could seek a low-carbon, low-pollution future for the transport sector while ensuring sustainable growth.
The ministerial statement said the countries recognise the need for the transport sector to act on CO2 emissions and air pollutants, which would also result in energy savings as well as health and safety benefits.
Kaneko said it was disappointing that China, which had insisted that the ministerial statement exclude emissions cut measures for developing countries and that rich nations lead the charge in lowering emissions, did not attend, though he did not think it affected the value of the meeting.
Several delegates agreed.
"Now we've got political support for the U.N.-led measures (for testing fuel efficiency or measuring greenhouse gas emissions on inland transport)," Juan Antonio Ramos Garcia, secretary of the United Nation's World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations, told Reuters.
Inland transport accounts for the biggest chunk of emissions from the overall transport sector, which is expected to grow further amid rising demand for cars, goods and travel in developing countries.
Airlines contribute about 2 percent of global CO2 emissions while shipping accounts for about 3 percent. Given the global nature of the aviation and shipping sectors, an international organisation for each sector is also holding separate talks apart from the nation-based post-Kyoto discussions.
"This agreement guarantees both competitiveness and economic growth going together with protection of the environment," Antonio Tajani, vice president of the European Commission, told Reuters on the sidelines of the news conference.
In an address at the conference, Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change said that “It is clear that a global deal on transport and climate change needs to be an integral part of the UNFCCC process, with all its 192 Parties.”
The signal we have heard from the scientific community is crystal clear: global greenhouse gas emissions need to peak over the next 10 to 15 years and drop by at least 50% against 2000 levels by the middle of the century in order to stabilize global mean temperature increases around 2-2.4 °C. For industrialized countries this means reductions by 2020 between 25 and 40% against 1990 levels. All of the current trends in transport fly in the face of what science tells us is required. Present political action in the transport sector is woefully inadequate.
...Transport industries should no longer find themselves in the position of beggars for billions of tax payer’s dollars. Instead, they need to come back into pole position of drivers of economic growth, through the production of smart and efficient cars, trains, ships and planes.
Source: Reuters via Green Car Congress
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