UN: Developed countries need to cut gas emissions by 25-40 per cent

Nov 5, 2009, 13:10 GMT

Athens - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on developed countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 per cent in an address to the Greek parliament Thursday.

With just over a month remaining before a key UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, Ban urged leading nations to unite on accord that is 'comprehensive, equitable, balanced and binding' at the December 7-18 talks.

Climate change negotiations are currently underway in Barcelona, Spain ahead of the Copenhagen conference.

At an international conference on immigration in Athens on Wednesday, Ban said a deal is also needed at the Copenhagen conference in order to curb environmental refugees.

'We are in a critical period...populations will relocate due to more extreme weather including prolonged droughts, intensive storms and wildfires,' Ban said, citing the rising migration numbers in Africa due to desertification and in Asia because of flooding.

Ban said the threat is already evident in poor countries such as Bangladesh where floods have temporarily displaced millions, and in Africa where expanding desertification is prompting more people to leave rural areas.

'We need action and agreement in Copenhagen. We will continue to push for the most ambitious agreement possible,' he said.

World governments are scheduled to meet in the Danish capital to agree on a new protocol before the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

The EU's 27 member countries last week reached a compromise on how much money to offer developing countries to fight climate change, a key stumbling block for a global treaty.

The European Commission predicts that rich nations will have to offer developing countries around 100 billion euros (147 billion dollars) a year by 2020 to adjust to climate change.

During talks at the UN conference in Athens, Ban said the number of people living outside their country of birth was more than ever before, due to poverty and war.

'Today the number of international migrants is greater than at any other time in history, with 214 million people living outside their country of birth,' he said.