NAIROBI, Kenya, March 2, 2009 (ENS) – Mayors from 33 capital and major cities across Africa pledged Friday to quicken climate change adaptation and mitigation plans for their cities.
Concluding a two-day meeting in Nairobi, the mayors issued the Nairobi Declaration, in which they resolved to integrate these plans into city development strategies.
Despite their relatively low contribution to global warming, African cities are suffering the effects of rising greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere in the world, mayors said at the conference, which was organized by UN-HABITAT to discuss the regional and global roles of mayors.
UN-HABITAT Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka said the regional conference had provided a new impetus to the local government movement in Africa.
Tanzania’s largest city Dar es Salaam is located on the Indian Ocean. (Photo credit unknown)“I am comforted that this conference has not been yet another forum for making laudable proclamations,” she said. “The outcome is a realistic call for collective action.”
The mayors resolved to raise the voice of African cities by participating actively in the ongoing global climate change policy development process that will culminate in the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. There, governments are expected to agree on a greenhouse gas limitation treaty that will take effect at the end of 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period expires.
Adam Kimbisa, the mayor of Tanzania’s capital, Dar es Salaam, observed that a continent that contributes relatively little to climate change is suffering severely because of it.
“Climate change did not start yesterday, and not in Africa. It started years ago, somewhere else,” said Kimbisa, in reference to Europe’s 18th century Industrial Revolution.
Concern over climate change was expressed most vocally by the mayors of coastal cities such as Dar es Salaam, Moroni and Banjul, and small island states such as Comoros and Seychelles.
Banjul, capital city of The Gambia, is built on the Atlantic Ocean. (Photo by Robert Mondmann)Marie-Antoinette Alexis, the mayor of Seychelles capital Victoria, said, “All countries must work together to combat climate change. In the Seychelles, our 116 islands are on the front line. We can lose our beaches, our tourism, our land and our way of life, if something is not done quickly.”
Samba Faal, the mayor of Banjul, capital of Gambia, observed that a one meter (39 inch) rise in sea level near his city would result in a 50 percent loss in landmass. Since most of Banjul lies one meter below sea level, such a scenario would pose a serious threat to human settlements, health and food security
Still, the negative impact of climate change is not confined to seaside cities. Mahamat Zène Bada, the mayor of Chad’s capital N’djamena, noted that irregular rainfall patterns and deforestation in and around the city had led to major flooding in 1999, 2001 and 2008. The city is flanked by two rivers and most people rely on wood products for energy, which causes the deforestation.
Climate change is only one of many problems afflicting African cities, emphasized Mayor Kimbisa. “Our cities cannot cope with five to six percent population growth. We can’t cope in education, housing, health or water,” he said. “Our cities are overwhelmed.”
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America’s Climate Choices: The Process and The Summit
WASHINGTON, DC, February 17, 2009 (ENS) – After years of being governed by climate skeptics and deniers, America is plunging into the process of choosing how to deal with the undeniable fact of global warming.
At the request of Congress, a two-day summit on America’s Climate Choices will be convened by the National Academy of Sciences on March 30 and 31, with a focus on how to limit the magnitude of climate change and adapt to its impact.
Climate change experts will meet with members of Congress and the Obama administration, as well as with business leaders and representatives of nongovernmental organizations, to set the stage for national action on climate change.
They will consider how to advance climate change science in order to increase understanding of how human actions and nature interact to drive climate change; improve systems for modeling and observing climate change; and enhance the accuracy of warnings for regions that may be most vulnerable.
Ensuring that climate change policy is informed by scientific evidence is high on the agenda. A live video webcast of the summit will be online at: http://national-academies.org/
Summit organizers hope that it will kick-start an open dialogue among important voices on climate change as the country and world grapple with what to do next.
Warming temperatures and drought have created wildfire conditions across California. Here, firefighters address the Hummingbird Fire in Morgan Hill, California. June 2008. (Photo by Neal Waters)
Presentations at the summit also will inform a series of reports from four panels convened by the Committee on America’s Climate Choices due out later this year.
The 23 member Committee on America’s Climate Choices will issue an overarching report in 2010 that will integrate the findings and recommendations from the four panel reports and other sources to identify the most effective short-term actions and most promising long-term strategies, investments, and opportunities for responding to climate change.
More than 90 experts from universities, scientific and public health organizations, national laboratories, corporations, federal and state government agencies and environmental groups have volunteered to serve on four study panels that will issue consensus reports. The panels are weighted heavily to university participants with only a few representatives from environmental groups.
One panel will address the question: “What can be done to limit the magnitude of future climate change?” This panel will describe, analyze, and assess strategies for reducing the net future human influence on climate, including both technology and policy options. The panel will focus on actions to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions and other human drivers of climate change, such as changes in land use, but will also consider the international dimensions of climate stabilization.
A second panel will address the question: “What can be done to adapt to the impacts of climate change?” This panel will focus on actions and strategies to reduce vulnerability, increase adaptive capacity, improve resiliency, and promote successful adaptation to climate change in different regions, sectors, systems, and populations. The costs, benefits, limitations, tradeoffs, and uncertainties associated with different options and strategies will be assessed.
A third panel will address the question: “What can be done to better understand climate change and its interactions with human and ecological systems?” This panel will first provide a concise overview of past, present, and future climate change, including its causes and its impacts, then recommend steps to advance our current understanding, including new observations, research programs, next-generation models, and the physical and human assets needed to support these and other activities.
A fourth panel will address the question: “What can be done to inform effective decisions and actions related to climate change?” This panel will describe and assess activities, products, strategies, and tools for informing decision makers about climate change and helping them plan and execute effective, integrated responses.
Members of the public are invited to submit input on the questions and content to be considered by the panels through April 17, 2009. Click here [dels.nas.edu] and select a panel to suggest questions for the study to address or to submit literature or opinion pieces to be considered during the study process.
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Climate Registry Issues Greenhouse Gas Reporting Standard
ALBANY, New York, April 6, 2008 (ENS) – A new reporting standard to help track the emissions of greenhouse gases in North America was announced Wednesday by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis.
The Climate Registry, a nonprofit partnership of which New York is a board member, released its General Reporting Protocol which provides a comprehensive guideline for how greenhouse gas emissions will be measured, verified and reported by participants in the Registry’s voluntary program.
“Every New Yorker has a vital stake in the success of controlling greenhouse gas emissions and limiting climate change,” Grannis said.
“Through The Climate Registry, we are beginning the crucial work of developing a reliable inventory of actual greenhouse gas emissions. Any firm, institution or organization that emits greenhouse gases needs this information to make the right decisions about how real reductions can take place and make a difference in the fight against global warming.”
Correct information about emissions is the basis for effective climate change policy and for cost-efficient investments in greenhouse gas reduction.
The Climate Registry provides a consistent way for companies, governments and organizations to count and report their emissions from greenhouse gas sources under their control, and to track progress toward meeting greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.
By enrolling in the Registry, participants benefit by getting access to user-friendly web-based software and technical assistance in developing their greenhouse gas inventories.
The Climate Registry is a national, nonprofit organization that has established a common system for state and tribally recognized greenhouse gas emissions records.
The organization’s Board of Directors includes representatives from 39 U.S. states, including New York, eight Canadian provinces, six Mexican states, three native tribes, and the District of Columbia.
The Registry’s General Reporting Protocol announced today is significant because it defines the methodology that will be used to calculate, verify, and publicly report greenhouse gas emissions.
Correct data in The Climate Registry will ensure that emissions reduction programs are consistent across borders and industry sectors, and that responsibility for controlling emissions is shared equitably.
The new protocol will ensure that the emissions data are accurate, complete, consistent, and verified.
The Registry will ensure consistency and transparency between programs, and will establish a high level of integrity in emissions accounting and reporting. The Protocol document incorporates public comments from workshops conducted throughout North America.
All New York businesses, nonprofit organizations, universities and municipalities are encouraged, although not required, to join The Climate Registry and begin measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions.
Seventy-three corporations, nonprofit organizations, cities, and counties are currently reporting their greenhouse gas emissions to The Climate Registry.
Entities reporting to The Climate Registry agree to calculate both direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. Direct emissions include those from on-site combustion, manufacturing processes and transportation fleets.
Emissions associated with electricity and steam consumption are the only indirect emissions required to be reported. However, reporters to the Registry are also encouraged to register additional indirect emissions.
Reporters measure and report emissions of the same six greenhouse gases specified for reduction by the Kyoto Protocol – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation is currently in the process of joining the Registry as a reporting member, and will voluntarily report the agency’s emissions data.
Organizations that join The Climate Registry as reporters before May 1, 2008, will be considered “Founding Reporters” and will receive continued recognition for their outstanding environmental leadership in measuring and publicly reporting their greenhouse gas emissions on a voluntary basis.
The Climate Registry is complementary to New York’s ongoing implementation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, RGGI, a program in which 10 Northeastern states have agreed to implement a carbon dioxide cap-and-trade program for the generation of electricity.
RGGI’s first auction of carbon dioxide allowances has been set for September 2008, with implementation of the RGGI program beginning in January 2009.
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San Francisco Mayor Issues Roadmap to a Greener City
SAN FRANCISCO, California, January 17, 2008 (ENS) – San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom Tuesday released SForward, the roadmap to achieve his environmental goal of a 20 percent decrease in emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide below 1990 levels by 2010.
The plan also aims to achieve carbon neutrality for city government by 2020.
SForward incorporates the environmental goals, programs and strategies of all key city departments, including the Public Utilities Commission, Municipal Transportation Authority, Department of Public Works, and the Recreation and Parks Department.
“San Francisco’s environmental future is already unfolding,” said Mayor Newsom. “When fully realized, the San Francisco of the future will be a place where words like ‘green’ and ’sustainable’ are meaningless, because it will simply be understood that any action includes best practices for the environment.”
SForward identifies six policy areas that will be developed – renewable and efficient energy, clean transportation, green buildings, urban forest, zero waste, and environmental justice.
The plan also highlights programs that are working now – such as San Francisco’s successful recycling efforts and recent biodiesel conversion efforts of food waste, as well as new ideas such as solar incentives and a local carbon offset program.
The plan looks toward changing municipal policies, such as the General Plan, as well as individual departmental strategic plans and seeks ways that the city can incorporate climate action in all initiatives.
The city’s strategies to develop new local climate change policy to address climate change include:
* Creating a San Francisco Carbon Fund for local green activities designed to mitigate or offset greenhouse gas emissions.
* Developing framework for a carbon tax, which may serve as an alternative to payroll taxes for San Francisco businesses.
* Incorporating climate protection criteria into the City’s General Plan and into departmental plans, activities and performance measures.
* Working with Peak Oil Task Force to maximize synergies between climate action and the development of the City’s approach to Peak Oil.
The plan includes encouragement for the installation of more solar power. The city will provide subsidies and loans to homeowners and businesses that install solar panels.
By 2010, San Francisco would
cut greenhouse gases by 20
percent below 1990 levels
under the new SForward plan.
(Photo courtesy FreeFoto.com)
To get San Franciscans out of their cars, the mayor proposes building key transportation projects including the Transbay Terminal and the Central Subway. He plans to expanding “SF Go,” a transportation management system to improve public transit.
The mayor says he will ensure that the required planning on the San Francisco Bike Plan is completed and greatly expand the City’s bicycle network.
The SForward plan includes bicycle-sharing options in new bus shelter programs.
Car-sharing will be encouraged and the mayor plans to designate 500 parking spaces for car-share vehicles.
To coincide with the launch of SForward, Mayor Newsom submitted legislation that will prohibit use of the outdated, environmentally costly T-12 lightbulb, and encourage transition to the T-8 bulb.
The T-8 lighting tubes are up to 40 percent more energy efficient, and have improved color, less heat, and less noise than the older fluorescent lamps.
The value of replacing the T-12 tubes is calculated that if all the remaining older fluorescent lights in the city were replaced with this new T-8 lighting technology, it would save enough energy to power 7,200 local residences or eliminate 16,500 tons of carbon dioxide.
To assist with these new requirements, funding is available to help with the conversion to more energy efficient light bulbs.
The SF Energy Watch Program has nearly $4 million to offer to local businesses to help with energy efficiency conversions. It provides incentive programs, training, education, and technical assistance for small businesses and residential customers.
The SForward plan is based on the work of the San Francisco Commission on the Environment, an advisory body which sets policy for the Department of the Environment and advises the mayor and Board of Supervisors on environmental matters.
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