Norway’s Stoltenberg replaces Brown

Gordon Brown has been replaced by Norway's Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, as co-chair of the UN Climate Group. It has been speculated that David Cameron would be offered the influential position but UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decided Stoltenberg would suit the prestigious role in the Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing. The other co-chair of the UN group is Ethiopian, Meles Zenawi.

The group's aim is to find methods of raising $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing nations cut down on carbon emissions in both short and long-term scenarios. Stoltenberg stated, "It's decisive to ensure sufficient financing of measures against climate change in poor nations to get a new international climate deal in place." Many ideas are being formulated about how to raise the funds for the yearly target including a levy on financial transactions, a tax on international aviation and shipping and proposals for an expansion of the carbon market.

One way in which Stoltenberg believes finances can be obtained is to get polluters to pay for their emissions; these financial penalties would be applicable to both businesses and economies. Stoltenberg asserted that the money "will go to two things. The one is to cope with the damage that climate change brings to many developing nations . . .But the most important is that it will go to measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions." He wants the funds to go towards multiple things including protecting rainforests, saving energy and developing and introducing environmental technology.

Norway was one of the first countries to promise to reach a carbon-neutral status and has played a key role in helping developing nations mitigate climate change, predominately through forest management. In a meeting last month in Oslo hosted by Stoltenberg, benefactors pledged $4 billion to help developing countries preserve forests, which are vital to absorb and contain greenhouse gas carbon dioxide Deforestation is a massive issue in the reduction of carbon dioxide and so this step by Stoltenberg shows early signs of his dedication to the cause. "Norway and I have worked on these questions for many years," Stoltenberg told Norway's NRK public reporter, it is one reason Stoltenberg believes he may have been offered the position.

The initial targets for financing the reduction of emissions in developing countries were established at the Copenhagen summit in December at $10 billion annually from 2010-12 rising to $100 billion per year after 2020. It is the intention of the climate group to reach these targets and is due to report its findings in November this year. It is important these goals are attained in order to curtail global warming as climate scientists have predicted a rise in flooding, heat waves, droughts and other natural disasters if efforts do not demonstrate results soon.

Author: Rachael Bristow | Climate Action

Image: gcardinal | Flickr