Submitted by administrator on Wed, 03/31/2010 - 11:34
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The UN on Tuesday the first gas emissions calculator able to calculate the amount of greenhouse gases produced in a given city, by specific sector or time, allowing cities to compare their performances and analyse differences.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) UN Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT) and the World Bank jointly launched the Global Greenhouse Gas Standard for cities at the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro.
The Greenhouse Gas Standard calculates emission on a per capita basis. For example, greenhouse gas emissions are 4,20 tonnes of carbon dioxide per capita in Barcelona, Spain, 10.6 in Bangkok, Thailand and 17.8 in Calgary, Canada.
The new common standard also takes into account cities’ primary energy sources, climate, means of transportation and urban form. As a result, a high-density city like New York produces 10.4 tons per capita, while another United States city, Denver, emits 21.3 tons per capital.
The new common standard also allows cities to compare emissions over time, across cities and in specific sectors such as energy, transportation or waste.
At the launch, the organizers stressed that city mayors and other urban leaders, business and civil society recognize the need to act to reduce climate change in cities.
"In reducing greenhouse gas emissions, cities are part of the solution; city officials are discovering new ways to get people out of cars and transfer them to rapid transit buses; to harness the methane released by landfills and turn it into energy, to support compact urban development and not urban sprawl," said Anna Tibajuka, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT.
Officials also stressed that cities can be the key catalyst towards the international aim of keeping a global temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius.
The Copenhagen Accord, for which 110 countries representing over 80 per cent of global emission have expressed support the emission of harmful gasses to the atmosphere. There remains an ambition gap between where we are and where we need to be in 2020 - bigger cuts by cities may be one route towards bridging this divide," said Achim Steiner, Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director.
Article reposted from the 29th March 2010 issue of the Island
