The climate crisis and the financial crisis are often portrayed as two competing issues that need to be addressed by the world community.But such competition does not need to be the case. Deep reductions of greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved by drastically reducing our demand for energy and strongly increasing the deployment and integration of renewable energy. Investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy will at the same time deliver economic benefits by increasing employment in the power sector, reducing energy costs and minimizing the use of scarce natural resources. The level of investment sneeded will only happen if the right policy framework is put in place.
Greenpeace is therefore calling upon world leaders to:
1. Agree on a new global climate deal that ensures global emissions to peak by 2015 at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December 2009, which should include:
- Binding commitments from industrialised countries to reduce their emissions by at least 40% by 2020 (compared to 1990levels). At least three quarters of these reductions must be achieved domestically.
- Binding commitments from industrialised countries to provide at least$140 billion a year by 2020, to help developing countries to adapt to unavoidable climate change impacts and enable these countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by limiting their projected energy demand, switching to clean energy, and halting deforestation.This should help developing countries to take ambitious actions to reduce their projected emissions growth by 15-30% by 2020.
- A funding mechanism to stop deforestation and associated emissions in all developing countries by 2020, with key areas (Amazon, Congo Basin, Paradise Forests) achieving zero deforestation by 2015.Priority must be given to protecting forests with a high conservation value and those that are important for the livelihoods of indigenous peoples and forest communities. These emission reductions must be in addition to developed country emission reductions.
2. Develop policies that will enable the greening of their economies by:
- Committing at least 1% of their GDP to greening their economies as proposed by UNEP’s Green New Deal Report.
- Phasing out all subsidies and other economic incentives that encourage inefficient use of energy and other natural resources and supports fossil fuel use or other activities that further contribute to climate change.
3. Kick start the energy revolution by:
- Setting stringent and ever-improving efficiency and emissions standards for appliances, buildings, power plants and vehicles.
- Establishing legally defined targets for renewable energy and combined heat and power generation.
- Reforming of the electricity market to allow better integration of renewable energy technologies on the market.
- Implementing fixed price mechanisms for renewable energy such as feed-in tariffs, which provide a stable return and long-term certainty for investors.
- Supporting innovation in energy efficiency, low-carbon transport systems, and renewable energy production.
