17 September 2008: In an interview with Carbon Finance,
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said a sectoral approach to reducing
emissions would have a “clear environmental benefit.”

He recalled that this approach,
which is supported by Japan, was a major bone of contention at last month’s
climate change talks in Accra, Ghana, as developing countries see it as an
attempt to impose emission-reduction targets on them. He added that in Accra,
supporters of the sectoral approach were able to explain that it aims to be: a
bottom-up instrument to compare the efforts that industrialized countries are
making respectively; and a way of scaling up the current project-based
approach.
He noted the environmental benefits of getting industries to perform
to the same standards. De Boer dismissed the assertion that a sectoral approach
would help address “carbon leakage,” when economic activity moves from a region
with carbon caps to one without, and stated that building state-of-the-art
industrial facilities makes economical sense, even in developing countries. [Carbon
Finance Press Release]