Speaking at a hearing on Nordic leadership for climate change action, former UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer noted that upwards of 85% of all new energy investments come from the private sector, stressing the need for stable frameworks for long-term planning.
24 January 2012: Speaking at a hearing on Nordic leadership for climate change action, former UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer urged Nordic countries to take the lead towards a global solution. He stressed that “more cooperation between government and business is the only road ahead to save the climate.”
The hearing took place on 24 January 2012, at the Norwegian parliament in Oslo, and was organized by the Nordic Council. De Boer noted that upwards of 85% of all new energy investments come from the private sector, stressing the need for stable frameworks for long-term planning. He also noted that a comprehensive international treaty on climate change is still the only way forward, adding that “we need to engage politicians and institutions like the Nordic Council much more actively.”
De Boer emphasized the need to make the case for green investments, showing that they are profitable, country by country. He called on Nordic countries to lead the way both with the “high emission reduction targets they have set for themselves at home and the know-how they have in creating green solutions globally.”
He said nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) are “particularly promising” in terms of lowering emissions in a customized way fitted to individual developing economies.
In her opening address, Ann-Kristine Johansson, Chair of the Environment Committee of the Nordic Council, underlined that, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), for every euro not invested in the energy sector before 2020, four will be spent to compensate for climate emissions after 2020. [Nordic Council Press Release] [Yvo de Boer’s Interview]