"UN climate change envoy: "Business as usual with a bit of green won't get us there"", 10 Sep 2014

[UN special envoy for climate change Mary Robinson]...feels that it is in Europe's economic interest to face up to climate change: "It is about jobs for the future. In the self-interest of European countries they need to be ambitious. I know that there is talk now about a Europe-wide energy policy; I think it's important that it be about renewable energy insofar as possible." Robinson served as UN high commissioner for human rights from 1997 to 2002 and, in her view, global warming is very much a human rights issue. She outlined how climate change is undermining development policy: "The efforts being made on development aid could actually be reversed by climate so we need to urgently address mitigation of climate but also help poorer countries, with community resilience and the transfer of technologies. We could change the lives of the 1.3 billion people who have no access to electricity because solar lighting has become much cheaper."...The former Irish president said she hoped that the UN climate summit [which includes a private sector forum] taking place in New York on 23 September would prove to be a turning point in the combat against climate change: "...What I've learned is that business as usual with a bit of green won't get us there. We have to actually change course and I hope that European leaders will give leadership on that."