The UN climate convention meeting has been given further boosts after South Africa and now the United States through its Environmental Protection Agency announced moves to tackle greenhouse gas emissions. The announcements come in the wake of proposals and pledges from numerous developed and developing economies in the run up to the crucial event in the Danish capital of Copenhagen including from China and India as well as Brazil, Indonesia, Japan and the European Union.
The US EPA says that it will start to regulate greenhouse gases as a pollutant dangerous to human health. The announcement, covering all six greenhouse gases under the UN Kyoto Protocol, will utilise existing legislation under the Clean Air Act.
"It means that we arrive at the climate talks in Copenhagen with a clear demonstration of our commitment to facing this global challenge," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was reported as saying.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, said: "The announcement that the US EPA will regulate greenhouse gas emissions signals the renewed commitment of the United States towards sealing a convincing deal in Copenhagen. Alongside the commitment and pledges by numerous developed and developing economies, it can help to start bridging the practical and political gaps between where the world is, and where it needs to be by 18 December."
Citing scientific evidence it has been studying since April 2007, the EPA said greenhouse gases "threaten the public health and welfare of the American people" and that the pollutants should be reduced.
The EPA findings concur with leading research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other organisations, which shows that exposure to particulate matter is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths around the globe every year.
UNEP's Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI), launched in early 2009, aims to promote fuel economy and the development of fuel efficient vehicles.
GFEI research shows that a move across the global fleet towards much greater fuel economy at a scale that is already achievable could save more than six billion barrels of oil per year by 2050 and cut close to half of CO2 emissions from cars, as well as generating significant air pollution benefits - all using existing, cost-effective technologies.
Beyond air pollution, climate change is also having a far-reaching impact on people's health around the world. WHO dedicated World Health Day 2008 to the impact of climate change on health, emphasising that the changing climate heightens health threats like malnutrition, diarrhoea and malaria, which kill millions of people around the world.
"The core concern is succinctly stated: climate change endangers human health," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan in April 2008. "The warming of the planet will be gradual, but the effects of extreme weather events - more storms, floods, droughts and heatwaves - will be abrupt and acutely felt."
WHO and its partners - which include UNEP - are devising a work plan and research agenda to get better estimates of the scale and nature of health vulnerability and to identify strategies and tools for health protection in the face of climate change.
