T&T overheating Carbon emissions up 278 per cent

By Aretha Welch awelch@trinidadexpress.com
Wednesday, February 3rd 2010

Minister of Housing, Planning and the Environment, Emily Dick-Forde.

In the last 16 years Trinidad and Tobago’s level of carbon emissions has increased by a whopping 278 per cent.

Emissions from industrial processes have gone up by 86.7 per cent, while emissions from power generation have now increased by 43.3 per cent.

This according to Minister of Housing, Planning and the Environment, Emily Dick-Forde.

She was speaking at the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference last week in Port of Spain.

The conference is an annual energy event organised by the South Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Commerce and sponsored by a number of the country’s largest players in the field.
Minister of Energy Conrad Enill speaks with the Mayor of San Fernando Kenneth Ferguson at the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference, held at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad last week.

Speaking to the audience, which included participants from as far as West Africa, Dick-Forde admitted that a series of studies done locally have shown that the country’s ambient temperature increased by 1.7 degrees Celsius in the last 40 years.

Carbon emissions have gone up by some 278 per cent in the last 16 years.

Speaking on the effects of climate change at the conference last Tuesday Dick-Forde said: ’I dare say some of them are already being experienced.’

Dick-Forde said agricultural setbacks, decreasing rainfall, and the reduced availability of surface water for collection by the local water authority and water bottling companies are all signs of this country’s over heating.

Despite these figures and the ongoing development projects (like the Alutrint smelter) which environmentalists have said will add to the country’s carbon footprint, Dick-Forde has said T&T will have a low carbon future.

She reiterated words expressed by colleagues before her, saying the country can have both industrial plants and environmental sustainability in its future.

In a recent interview with the Business Express, Minister of Trade and Industry, Mariano Browne said, though the Government is still working on industrial projects such as the Alutrint smelter, ’The emission standards which have been used and were the standards to establish the Alutrint plant are more robust than the world standards by at least three.’

He said contrary to popular belief, Government is not leaving it to companies to be socially responsible on their own accord, but via the stipulations of the Environmental Management Authority the Government was fulfilling its mandate on environmental awareness and responsibility.

Also speaking at the Energy Conference which was held at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad last week, Minister of Energy Conrad Enill also defended this country’s carbon footprint.

He said: ’There is an argument about measuring carbon emissions on a per capita basis and using this as a yardstick to determine who should take the greater action and bear the costs to bring the climate change threat under control.’

Via these calculations Trinidad and Tobago is ranked within the top ten carbon emitting countries of the world.

However Enill said: ’This, I wish to say very clearly, is something Trinidad and Tobago completely rejects.’

He quoted statistics from the organisation, Carbon Monitoring for Action, which showed that Asia, North America and Europe account for over 10.7 billion tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

’The Rest of the World (inclusive of the Caribbean) accounts for just about 700 million tonnes per year.’

Dick-Forde who also admitted that since 1990, the number of vehicles on the nation’s roadways had increased by 100 per cent, said Government had a plan to treat with the nation’s growing carbon footprint.

She said her ministry was considering their options for ’greening’ the thousands of houses which would be built and distributed to citizens this year.

Over the years some suggestions for greening homes have included using new modes of plumbing, which include two-mode plumbing systems, that allow you to control the amount of water you use.

Flooring that is made from low emittance materials have also become popular in European countries.

On the local front she said her Government was doing all it could to help in the fight against climate change.

Dick-Forde told the audience that Cabinet has developed a draft policy that will treat with climate change in T&T already prepared and it should be out for public consultation by late February.

She assured that Trinidad and Tobago’s administrators would not take on a business as usual approach, as it is understood , should the world continue to do business as usual, the globe would end up at least six degrees hotter than it was before countries became industrialised.

Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business_mag?id=161590801