Positive over action on climate change

Former United States secretary of energy Prof Steven Chu took a ride on Tia Kina for a...
Former United States secretary of energy Prof Steven Chu took a ride on Tia Kina for a sightseeing trip around Otago Peninsula yesterday. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
A former energy adviser to United States President Barack Obama says there is cause for hope when it comes to global action on climate change.

Nobel prize winner and former United States secretary of energy Prof Steven Chu's visit to Dunedin, at the University of Otago's invitation, comes as international negotiators reflect on an agreement made in Lima, Peru, which for the first time involves a plan for all countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Since the Lima deal was announced on Sunday evening (NZ time) it has come in for criticism from climate change groups for not going far enough.

Speaking to the Otago Daily Times yesterday while on a sightseeing trip on Otago Peninsula, Prof Chu said international agreements, including a global deal due to be finalised in Paris next year, only meant so much.

''In the end, you don't you have an international agreement [and then] job done.''

The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, was a good example of a climate change agreement which looked good on paper but did not come to fruition.

''You can have no international agreement and still make tremendous progress.

''And indeed, the real progress is not made by international treaties. It's made by ... what happens in each country,'' he said.

From his experience as US secretary of energy from 2009 until last year, he knew that getting countries to agree on climate change was ''very hard'', but there were reasons to be ''hopeful'' on climate change, including the agreement between United States and China announced last month, which commits both to taking measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

''That was a very big deal.''

He believed Mr Obama would be happy with this agreement and despite only leaving the administration last year Prof Chu was ''pleasantly surprised'' when it was announced.

Much depended on its success.

''By mid-century, both China and the United States really should be at least 50% off of fossil [fuels] if the world is going to have hope.''

Another reason to be hopeful was technological developments making renewable energy much cheaper.

He said New Zealand being only a small country was not a good excuse for us not to act - as the actions of smaller countries made a difference. This was demonstrated by Scandinavian countries being energy efficiency leaders.

Prof Chu visited Dunedin after an invitation from Otago University's Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, which was recently awarded millions of dollars worth of Government research funding.

He gave a graduation address on Saturday and is giving a public lecture at Otago University's St David Lecture Theatre at 5.30pm today.

vaughan.elder@odt.co.nz

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