Saudi Arabia supports efforts to curb climate charge without negatively affecting the world economy, Saudi representative to the United Nations Aser Altayeb said Wednesday at a United Nations General Assembly debate on the issue. Altayeb spoke of the second day of the climate change meeting, which brings together member states from the developed and developing world and representatives from the business, media, government and non-governmental organizations. Aser Altayeb, chair of the Saudi delegation to the meeting, said Saudi Arabia is “committed to working together towards finding the right solutions.” He noted that the Kingdom pledged $300 million to “support research on energy, environment and climate change.” “We must find practical solutions that would achieve the required emission reductions, and at the same time keep the energy cycle on its steady path to avail the growing energy needs required for development,” Altayeb said. “We need to be careful in assuring that mitigation actions do not create market distortions, which would lead to instability of energy supplies, and cause a disruption to the development process,” Altayeb added. “Carbon Capture and storage,” Altayeb said, “provide a win-win solution and a positive way forward.” Carbon capture and storage aims to prevent the harmful effects of climate change by catching carbon dioxide and storing it, potentially in underground reserves, to stop it from circulating in the atmosphere, where it can contribute to global warming. Altayeb also commented on the climate change agreement reached recently at the Bali conference. “That agreement did not by anyway imply that Kyoto is dead or Kyoto is over, or that the Climate Change Convention is not good anymore,” he said But Altayeb also admitted that “actions to address climate change are lagging,” attributing a failure to commit by developing countries, in part, to a lack of tools. ---More
