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 |  | COP15 in Copenhagen must reach an ambitious climate agreement
When the countries of the world gather in Copenhagen for COP15 in December to negotiate a global climate agreement, the ultimate objective will be to ensure the stability of society as we know it today. But it must also create a sustainable society that will be the cornerstone of future economic growth.
192 countries will be represented in Copenhagen in December. Denmark’s goal is clear and unambiguous – we must reach an ambitious global agreement that reduces the emission of greenhouse gases. It is a matter of great urgency – because everything points towards us having to find a more sustainable way of life. And the business community has a central role to play in finding concrete solutions.
This will be of benefit to more than just the climate. The countries of Scandinavia cannot go on living off the polluting industries of yesterday.
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Connie Hedegaard has been the Danish Minister
for the Climate and Energy since November 2007.
Because there are many other parts of the world that are more than ready to continue production, of clothes for example, under with a disregard for the environment and under conditions that we would never permit. So we have no option but to develop new green products and production forms if we want to stay at the forefront of international commerce. And we will earn money from brainwaves and innovative solutions.
The Scandinavian countries have always been good at developing innovative products and coming up with technological answers to problems - we are on the cutting edge in both design and new ideas. So it is only natural that we take advantage of the demand for a solution to the climate problem by continuing that development and ensuring that Scandinavian products are part of the cure for our dependency on fossil fuels.
Denmark’s green business sector sets a good example to follow, here in the midst of a financial crisis. The latest figures from 2008 show that Danish export of technology rose by 19 per cent –more than four times the level of conventional exports. This is proof that it does pay for trade and commerce to take the green route – now and in the future.
By 2050, there will be nine billion people living on Earth, eight billion of them in what we call the developing countries. If they are all to have access to the same resources and economic growth, we simply must find better ways of using our resources. We cannot go on polluting our planet and using fossil fuels to exhaustion as we do today. It is simply not viable, not sustainable – say the researchers. They also say that we must act now, because if we do nothing today it will only become more expensive to do what must be done tomorrow. In other words – the price to be paid for delaying action on climate change will just go on rising the longer we sit on our hands and do nothing.
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ACTIVE HOUSE
Active Houses respond to environmental and climatic changes through a holistic approach – and show the way to future standards through experimentation.
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