Speech at UN Secretary-General’s High Level Event on Climate Change

Chairman,

Let me go straight to the issue:  Greenhouse gas emissions  must be made to peak within a decade.  If not, climate change will become a self-reinforcing, accelerating  process. We who are gathered here today carry the responsibility for making the decisions that will drive the changes to avoid this.
The Norwegian position is that we must avoid a temperature increase above 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, a position we share with he EU. We might lose control if we fail this goal.

That is why Bali must launch a platform for negotiations of a comprehensive, global agreement. One that we will sign at Copenhagen in 2009, and that will close any gap between the Kyoto Protocol and its successor.
We must work under the umbrella of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and under the auspices of the United Nations. This  is where the legitimacy is vested.

The countries which have undertaken quantitative obligations under the Kyoto Protocol are causing 30 per cent of global emissions, and this per-centage is decreasing.  Consequently, even drastic reductions domestically within those countries will not alone solve the problem in the light in the need for cuts exceeding 50 per cent by the middle of the century.

Therefore, the new agreement must include all major emitters. And Our most important challenge is to work out an equitable solition which will include the US, and the developed countries, but also the emerging economies.

Many developing countries believe that the industrialized world has defaulted on the promise of financial and technology assistance. They claim rightly that the rich countries have filled up the atmosphere, and fueled their own development since the industrial revolution, by burning fossil fuels. And that it is unfair that developing countries should pay for the extravaganza of the north by accepting restrictions.

A Post 2012 regime must be equitable, workable and accommodate very different national circumstances. We must work on many fronts, and it will be essential to provide financing and incentives for reforestation and adaptation, in particular for the least developed countries and small island states. 
A new regime should also include international aviation and international shipping.

Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases, increasing by about 4 per cent a year. The climate impact of aircraft emissions at high altitude is 2 to 4 times the impact of CO2 at ground level. In our view international air transport and maritime transport need to be included in the carbon market.

Norway, together with the European Environmental Agency, will hold a workshop in Oslo two weeks from now to explore how this can be done in practice.
Chairman, the energy-sector is a huge and expanding source of emissions, and we will not suceed, unless we find the technology and incentives to de-carbonize it.
Carbon pricing must be part of an equitable and effective global emission reduction scheme. Putting a price on carbon will lead business and individuals to switch away from high-carbon goods and services, and to invest in low-carbon alternatives. Our objective should be to establish a global carbon price and a global market for carbon trading.

We must develop the Kyoto mechanisms further. A key element in the forthcoming negotiations should therefore be how we can expand the carbon market.
And the concept of Clean Development Mechanism could possibly be expanded to include whole sectors of the economy.
Chairman, in 1961 President Kennedy announced that before the decade was out the US would be landing a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth.  The technology leap ahead of us must be based on a comparable vision.

Existing clean technologies, properly deployed, can take us a long way, especially if the right price incentives are established.  But there is also a need for the governments to contribute to funding development of new, clean technologies.

The Norwegian  Government, in cooperation with the private sector, has embarked on a very ambitious programme for Carbon Capture and Storage. Before the middle of the next decade, we aim to operate a full-scale carbon capture and storage plant fitted to a large scale power plant. Such technology will be necessary for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and we intend to contribute actively to its diffusion and deployment.

Mr. Chairman, the climate challenge is enormous, but so are the potential rewards and opportunities for growth and positive change. Herein lies the future. This is a challenge we must take.

Thank you!