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The climate costs of the United Nations
To address the growing challenge of climate change and the urgency to take
concrete action at all levels, the UN Secretary-General has urged UN agen-
cies to respond collectively and lead by example in greening the UN and be-
coming climate neutral. He has tasked a body called the UN Environmental
Management Group (EMG) to coordinate a collective UN system-wide ef-
fort to move the UN’s operations towards climate neutrality.
In October 2007 with the support of the EMG, the UN Secretary-General
and the Heads of UN agencies agreed on a strategy to move their respec-
tive organizations towards climate neutrality. They made a commitment to
estimate their GHG emissions in conformity with international standards
THE CLIMATE NEUTRAL NETWORK
Launched in February 2008, the CN Net began with four national govern-
ments – Costa Rica, Iceland, Norway and New Zealand – and several cities
and corporations, all committed to working towards climate neutrality, as
founder members. CN Net is an information exchange platform not only
for existing members but for all nations, local governments and businesses
which seek to cut their net GHG emissions to zero.
The founder states acknowledge that there are real problems on the road to
climate-neutral economies. Norway’s main challenge, for example, is limit-
ing fossil fuel emissions. The world’s third largest exporter of oil aims to
become climate-neutral by 2030, with global carbon offsets accounting for
part of the target, and carbon sequestration (see page 88) – a method of
trapping emitted gases and storing them underground or beneath the sea
– helping to reduce its domestic emissions. Norway also plans to expand
public transport and reduce taxes for new, fuel-efficient cars.
In New Zealand agriculture accounts for half of all greenhouse gases, with the
country’s tens of millions of farm animals producing large quantities of meth-
ane. The country plans to raise its already high use of renewable resources for
electricity generation (predominantly hydropower at present) to 90 per cent