BELGRADE MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE: GOING CARBON NEUTRAL
Belgrade and Geneva, 10 October 2007 -- The Ministerial Conference
opening today in Belgrade is the first Conference within the “Environment
for Europe” process
to be carbon neutral.
Ministers and other high-level representatives will discuss environmental
policy, including measures to tackle global warming. But they will not have
contributed to climate change by meeting in Belgrade.
The Conference organizers have calculated how much carbon dioxide, and other
greenhouse gases, will be produced by the Conference. These will be mostly
as a result of participants flying to the Conference, but local transport,
energy consumed and waste generated at the conference venue, hotel accommodation
and more have also been counted in. Preliminary estimates show that the Conference
will emit about 3,000 tons of greenhouse gases.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, which provides the Conference
secretariat, has asked the CarbonNeutral Company to identify possible renewable
energy projects to compensate for the emissions. These projects, being funded
by the Portuguese Presidency of the EU, should result in an equivalent reduction
in greenhouse gas emissions, so cancelling out the Conference’s effect
on global warming.
Making the Conference carbon neutral is also intended to raise public awareness
of how individuals and others can take responsibility for the greenhouse gases
emitted as a result of their daily activities.
For more information, please contact:
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Kaj Bärlund
Director, Environment, Housing and
Land Management Division
UNECE
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 2370
Mobile: +41 (0) 79 202 6841
E-mail: [email protected] |
Monika Linn
Team Leader, Environment for Europe and
Sustainable Development Team
UNECE
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 1315
Mobile: +41 (0) 79 477 0847
E-mail: [email protected] |
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Website: http://www.unece.org/env/ |
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Ref: ECE/ENV/07/P08