Climate Change Solutions Key to World Prosperity

"This is a moment of greater insecurity and challenge in the world today, but it makes a meeting like this all the more important. The theme of the Annual Meeting, 'The Power of Collaborative Innovation' is the answer to all the big global challenges we are facing," said Co-Chair Tony Blair, British prime minister from 1997 to 2007.

More than 2,500 participants from 88 countries are in Davos for the forum, including 27 heads of state or government and 113 cabinet ministers, along with religious leaders, media leaders and heads of non-governmental organizations.

Co-Chair James Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co., USA agreed with Blair that making progress to resolve the Middle East conflict and world peace are at the top of his agenda. "The second would be energy and the environment," he said.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice at the World Economic Forum 2008 (Photos by Remy Steinegger courtesy World Economic Forum swiss-image.ch)

"The U.S. economy is resilient, its structure is sound and its long-term economic fundamentals are healthy," said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in her opening address. "America has no permanent enemies, it can be friends with any country that shares its values and believes that diplomacy can make a world where enemies become friends."

"Within the meeting's main theme, I would like to see participants addressing the issues of peace and climate change, as well as the issue of inclusive growth," said Co-Chair K. V. Kamath, managing director and chief executive of the ICICI Bank, India.

"Companies and countries need to take social responsibility and pay attention to climate change and other global challenges," said Co-Chair Wang Jianzhou, chairman and chief executive of the China Mobile Communications Corporation.

Co-Chair Indra Nooyi, chairman and chief executive of PepsiCo, USA, said her focus is on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and water in particular.

"I know there's a lot of concern about the economic situation, but looking at the long term, I'm here to talk about energy," said Co-Chair David O'Reilly, chairman and chief executive of Chevron. "As more people are lifted out of poverty, demands on energy are only going to increase."

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told the participants, "We know on the basis of our reports that climate change, if unmitigated, can have serious implications for the economic well-being of human society."

IPCC Chairman Dr. Rajendra Pachauri addresses the World Economic Forum.

"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising average sea level," Pachauri said, quoting from the IPCC's most recent report, issued last year.

"Also much stronger and sharper is the finding related to the human influence on climate change as conveyed in the statement, 'Most of the observed increase in temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the increase in anthropogenic GHG concentrations,'" he quoted from the report.

"It would be convenient to submerge this reality under the financial problems the world is facing this week," Pachauri said, "but we would indeed be doing so at the peril of ignoring the world's most pressing problems."

"The inertia in the climate system is such that even if we were to stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today, climate change would continue for decades. Hence, measures for adapting to the impacts of climate change are urgent and inevitable. However, it is only through appropriate mitigation measures that many impacts can be avoided, reduced or delayed," he said.

"The IPCC has found that the costs of even stringent mitigation measures would be modest," he assured the economic leaders.

Those companies that take the lead in cutting emissions of greenhouse gases will meet with "success in both a business and a societal context," Pauchauri said. "Those that lag behind would suffer the risk of losses in the marketplace and loss of prestige and reputation."

He said the same consequences also apply to nations and governments.

"In meeting the threat of climate change we would, therefore, be creating a precedent that would provide the lead in meeting other global challenges that appear prominently on the horizon," Pachauri concluded.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.