Wayout of global warming going to be very expensive
Thursday, 3 September 2009
From Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Sept 02: The wayout of global warming is developing to be a very expensive affair. It will cost between $500 and $600 billion annually to induce poor developing states to shift to using renewable energy resources instead of relying on dirty fuels that worsen global warming, according to a United Nations report released yesterday.
One good thing is that the problem is drawing growing attention. A series of international meetings has been planned for coming days. But the one to be held in New York on 22nd of this month and the other billed for Copenhagen in December will be most crucial.
The cost of eliminating global warming is becoming a serious challenge. The astronomical estimate far higher than any previously suggested by the UN comes at a time when developed and developing nations are locked in a debate over who bears the responsibility for shouldering the expense of deploying cleaner energy resources.
The issue who will foot the bill remains one of the significant hurdles to reaching a global agreement on combating climate change. Much of the focus has also been on significant emissions cut, the New York Times (NYT) said. The UN report of global warming released yesterday has been compared to Marshall Plan using which the US rebuilt the ravaged European economies after World War II, the same paper said.
The developing nations are hell bent on extracting a firm commitment from the affluent nations that they would provide financial support for reducing current and future emissions. With all rich nations in deep economic recession for about past two years, no such commitment is forthcoming. African nations meeting in Tripoli this week will ask the leaders of industrialised world for $67 billion annually including compensation for the consequences of global warming they created.
The UN officials are hopeful that the special summit on climate change to be held here on Sept 22 in which more than 100 world leaders are expected to participate will be able to 'break the impasse'. The initial cost and initial investment to put emission on a sustainable path are large, no one knows exactly what the cost is, NYT quoted an expert as saying. The cost of building the infrastructuire alone will be $500 billion in developing countries. China of course has started using solar energy. The amount $500 billion looks fearful but it is roughly 1.0 per cent of the annual global economic output. One expert suggested imposing a global tax of $50 per ton on carbon emission that would fetch about $500 billion a year.
Meanwhile, another technological revolution is likely to hit the world soon. Sony said it would market three dimension tv sets (3D tv) globally by the end of 2010. Sony will also manufacture 3D lap top computers soon. 3D train is on the track and we at Sony are ready to drive it home, a Sony executive said.
NEW YORK, Sept 02: The wayout of global warming is developing to be a very expensive affair. It will cost between $500 and $600 billion annually to induce poor developing states to shift to using renewable energy resources instead of relying on dirty fuels that worsen global warming, according to a United Nations report released yesterday.
One good thing is that the problem is drawing growing attention. A series of international meetings has been planned for coming days. But the one to be held in New York on 22nd of this month and the other billed for Copenhagen in December will be most crucial.
The cost of eliminating global warming is becoming a serious challenge. The astronomical estimate far higher than any previously suggested by the UN comes at a time when developed and developing nations are locked in a debate over who bears the responsibility for shouldering the expense of deploying cleaner energy resources.
The issue who will foot the bill remains one of the significant hurdles to reaching a global agreement on combating climate change. Much of the focus has also been on significant emissions cut, the New York Times (NYT) said. The UN report of global warming released yesterday has been compared to Marshall Plan using which the US rebuilt the ravaged European economies after World War II, the same paper said.
The developing nations are hell bent on extracting a firm commitment from the affluent nations that they would provide financial support for reducing current and future emissions. With all rich nations in deep economic recession for about past two years, no such commitment is forthcoming. African nations meeting in Tripoli this week will ask the leaders of industrialised world for $67 billion annually including compensation for the consequences of global warming they created.
The UN officials are hopeful that the special summit on climate change to be held here on Sept 22 in which more than 100 world leaders are expected to participate will be able to 'break the impasse'. The initial cost and initial investment to put emission on a sustainable path are large, no one knows exactly what the cost is, NYT quoted an expert as saying. The cost of building the infrastructuire alone will be $500 billion in developing countries. China of course has started using solar energy. The amount $500 billion looks fearful but it is roughly 1.0 per cent of the annual global economic output. One expert suggested imposing a global tax of $50 per ton on carbon emission that would fetch about $500 billion a year.
Meanwhile, another technological revolution is likely to hit the world soon. Sony said it would market three dimension tv sets (3D tv) globally by the end of 2010. Sony will also manufacture 3D lap top computers soon. 3D train is on the track and we at Sony are ready to drive it home, a Sony executive said.