Tuesday December 15, 2009

Report: KL a bit greener now

HILARY CHIEW reporting from Copenhagen

Malaysia has been ranked 50th by a non-governmental organisation which monitors countries on their initiatives to cut greenhouse gas emissions and implement good climate policies — an improvement from last year’s 52nd position.

However, it still puts Malaysia behind Indonesia, which stands at 23rd, and Singapore at 40th. Indonesia rose from 27th position last year while Singapore slipped from 38th place.

The three countries were among 57 countries that are responsible for more than 90% of the world’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.

The assessment was carried out by GermanWatch in collaboration with the NGO coalition called Climate Action Network.

The annual assessment, released at each UN climate summit, aims to increase the political and social pressure on countries which have failed to take the initiative on climate protection or still neglect the importance of the issue.

GermanWatch political director Christoph Bals said the best three positions were not filled because none of the countries analysed were contributing sufficiently on a practical level to avoid dangerous climate change and keep global warming notably below the 2° Celsius limit.

Brazil emerged fourth for its intention to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 36% to 38% by 2020.

Among the developed nations, Canada scored last, coming in 59th, one spot ahead of Saudi Arabia, for its “very poor” intention in the global fight against climate change.

The assessment report said:

“Even though Canada committed itself to a greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 6% by the period 2008-2012 from the 1990 level, the country was already 34% above the binding Kyoto Protocol target in 2007, so it scores quite badly in relation to other states.”

The per capita emission of greenhouse gases for a Malaysian is 7.2 tonnes compared to 4.6 tonnes for a Chinese and 20 tonnes for an American. China is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter and the United States is the second largest.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who will be among 110 state leaders who will come to Copenhagen for the high-level segment of the climate summit, has offered “credible cuts” but did not provide a figure.

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