Lee says failure of Copenhagen no excuse for failure to act on climate

By Byun Duk-kun
COPENHAGEN, Dec. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Friday
urged world leaders to take immediate action on climate change despite their
anticipated failure to reach a consensus at a summit here, saying the world has
no other option.
The gloomy outlook for the U.N. climate summit, attended by the leaders of more
than 100 countries, came as the meeting was set to be concluded with a
declaration that will only reaffirm the leaders' earlier agreement to put a
two-degree Celsius cap on the temperature rise in 2050 from pre-industrial
levels.
"Although we may not agree on everything today, this must not be an excuse for
no-action," Lee said in an address to the summit. "We will continue to do our
very best because there is no alternative for our planet. This is all we have."
In an op-ed published Wednesday by a U.S. news outlet, the Christian Science
Monitor, the South Korean president said the Copenhagen talks may be the last
chance to agree on a workable solution for the environment.
The talks were aimed at drawing up a new international convention on climate
change that will replace the Kyoto Protocol, set to expire in 2012.
Lee was addressing the climate summit as a representative head of state of the
Environmental Integrity Group (EIG), a negotiation group consisting of South
Korea, Lichtenstein, Mexico, Monaco and Switzerland. Formed in 2000 by South
Korea, Mexico and Switzerland, the EIG is the only group in U.N. climate talks
that brings together advanced and developing countries.
Lee said the group may propose a possible solution to one of the major obstacles
preventing a global consensus on climate change -- a gap between developed and
developing countries over how much the latter should contribute -- by acting as a
"positive bridge" between the two sides.
"However, one of the most important principles that the EIG believes in is the
importance of having a "me first" attitude," President Lee said, stressing the
need for every country to take voluntary actions.
South Korea took the initiative last month when it announced a voluntary goal of
cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from its forecast levels in 2020,
he noted.
It will again act first by creating a new global research group, tentatively
named the Global Green Growth Institute, that will develop and share green
technologies with developing countries.
"In the spirit of global partnership, this institute will act as a global think
bank leading us to a low carbon society. This is not just a Korean venture," he
told the summit.
"In a few hours, the Copenhagen meeting will come to a closing. But this is not
an end but a new beginning," he said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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