Africa climate change woes aired at Clinton summit

NEW YORK - Africa is being damaged by greenhouse gas pollution from developed nations and must sell carbon credits to grow in a "green fashion," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Bill Clinton's philanthropic summit on Thursday.

Climate change took center stage at the third annual Clinton Global Initiative sponsored by the former U.S. president, that was held as the world's biggest polluters including the United States and China met at the U.S. State Department in Washington for talks on global warming.

"Africa contributed nothing to global warming," Meles said. "Africa's capacity to cope with climate change is very weak. Therefore climate change could push the fragile economies and societies of Africa beyond the precipice."

Speaking on a panel with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.N. climate change envoy Gro Harlem Brundtland and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Meles said the "only realistic option" for Africa was sustainable growth, but money was needed to achieve that.

"The money has to come from the cap and trade mechanism," Meles said. "We did not pollute. We are being punished because of what you did and we deserve the right to sell carbon credits to you so we can use the money to promote green development in our countries," he said, drawing applause from the audience.

Under the Kyoto Protocol to curb global warming, rich countries can meet their emissions limits by investing in carbon-minimizing projects, such as hydo-electric dams, in poor countries.

$30 BILLION EMISSIONS MARKET

But the overall $30 billion emissions market has failed to help Africa, with China and India dominating sales to rich nations. World Bank data shows Africa accounted for 3 percent of sales last year, compared to China's 61 percent share and India's 12 percent.

Scientists say smokestack and tailpipe emissions of heat-trapping gases cause global warming, which could lead to more deadly floods, droughts and heat waves.

Blair said world leaders this year must lay out a successor to the Kyoto Protocol in which everyone -- including the top two emitters, the United States and China -- take part to cut emisssions. The Kyoto deal runs out in 2012.

"We are at the point now where the business community internationally is ahead of the politics and is saying to political leaders, 'Now is the moment. If you give us the framework we will get behind it,'" Blair said.

The Clinton brainstorming session on health, education, poverty and climate is aimed at generating action. Clinton said commitments to tackle climate change made at the summit since its 2005 launch so far had cut more than 550 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Paulson said U.S. President George W. Bush knows the United States must be a leader on the climate issue.

"This president knows how serious the challenge is, knows it's got to be solved globally, knows that the key is going to be the development of low carbon technology around the world and is very committed working to that end," Paulson said.

"We know we're got more work to do and its going to take real leadership from the U.S.," he said.

The Bush administration has been criticized for refusing to adopt mandatory limits for climate-warming emissions, and instead favoring "aspirational" targets.