World Transport Ministers Urge Sector To Lead Emissions Cut

January 20, 2009

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Representatives of twenty-two nations met in Tokyo last week to discuss how to reduce GHG emissions – over 20 percent of which are caused by the transportation sector – RedOrbit reports.

Transport ministers, including those from large polluters in the U.S., China, and India, took part in the meetings which consisted of two days of talks. The meeting anticipates the upcoming December conference in Copenhagen where policymakers are expected to form a treaty to take over when the Kyoto Protocol expires.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said he would like participating countries to speed up their efforts to cut CO2 emissions from the transport sector, but also to enhance their support for developing countries and utilize their technologies and experience.

Transport industries should stop asking for billions of taxpayers dollars and instead should help drive economic growth through the production of smart and efficient cars, trains, ships and planes, contributed Yvo de Boer, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat.

Airlines are currently responsible for about 2 percent of global CO2 emissions; shipping’s share of global emissions is about 3 percent.

Last month at the climate talks in Poland, officials from China and India refused to “play nice” with the rest of the world unless the U.S. agrees to cut emissions deeper than those proposed by President Obama’s administration.

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