Developing nations seek clean energy technologies
At the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, developing nations pointed out that cutting global warming pollution – mainly, carbon dioxide emissions – will not be done at the expense of their booming economies, and indeed cannot be done in a way that outpaces the growth of their economies.
Representatives from China and India reported that both are implementing emissions cuts in various economic sectors, but neither is convinced that mandatory limits are the fastest way to cut global warming pollution. Besides, they rightfully pointed out, the developed nations are missing their Kyoto Protocol targets, and the big Kahuna – the United States – isn’t even participating. Rather than hefting this unfair burden of limits, they instead want greater access to clean energy technologies.
The problem is that coal is an abundant resource in this area of the world, so “clean” coal technologies is what many are talking about. But the technology needed to burn the coal without releasing carbon dioxide isn’t available. Asia is crucial to the global warming fight, but the transition to a global clean energy economy will be too slow unless the existing technologies out there like wind, solar, hydro, etc are made available and purposefully developed on a massive scale.
The next phase of the Kyoto Protocol includes getting developing nations – which were exempt from the mandates in the current plan - to sign onto emissions targets starting in 2012.
