Renewable Energy Program For Developing World Aims To Cut GHGs

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OSLO — A U.N. scheme to promote renewable energy use in poor nations is growing sharply and will axe emissions of greenhouse gases by more than a billion tonnes by 2012, the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said on Friday.

It said that the programme, part of the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol meant to combat global warming by curbing fossil fuel use, has more than 800 projects such as wind farms in India or power plants burning sugar cane waste in Brazil. The first project under the scheme was approved only in late 2004.

By giving rich nations incentives to invest in green energy ranging from hydro to solar power, the programme aims to brake a build-up of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from burning fuels such as coal or oil. "The known project potential ... is presently estimated to generate around a billion tonnes of emission reductions by the end of 2012," the Bonn-based secretariat said in a statement. That is the estimated reduction between now and end-2012.

Annual world greenhouse gas emissions from human activities -- mainly from fossil fuels burnt in power plants, vehicles and factories -- exceed 25 billion tonnes. About a quarter is from the United States. "The one billion tonne mark in emission reductions corresponds to the present (annual) emissions of Spain and the United Kingdom combined," the secretariat said. Britain emits about 650 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, Spain 350 million.

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