Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The first meeting of the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) began in Bonn on September 1st. The TEC is the policy arm of the Technology Mechanism, established at the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference to deploy the funds and technology to assist developing countries respond to climate change. The aim of the first meeting is to determine how the TEC will operate and interact with other institutions under the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

"The challenge we face calls for nothing less than a transformation of the world economy onto a green, sustainable pathway. Technology - both for adaptation and for mitigation - cannot but be at the very centre of this transformation," said UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres. "Strengthened technology can help us get there faster and cheaper; it can help us get there cooperatively and collaboratively; and it can help us ensure that this transformation is both equitable and sustainable." The TEC consists of 20 members with technical, legal, policy, social development and financial expertise relevant to the area of mitigation and adaptation technologies.

Wastewater recycling processes may generate three times as much greenhouse gas nitrous oxide as conventional water treatment, according to a study of facilities in the southwest of the United States. Dense populations of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria in the recycling plants are the cause of high nitrous oxide emissions. "Because the Los Angeles area is so heavily urbanized, our calculations indicate that nitrous oxide emissions from wastewater treatment and recycling are several orders of magnitude larger than agricultural nitrous oxide emissions in the region, said lead researcher Amy Townsend-Small at the University of Cincinnati.

Greenhouse gas emissions overall could be reduced if, for example, recycling replaces long-distance transport of water "Wastewater recycling is an essential component of the urban water-resource portfolio, especially in the semi-arid, urban southwest," Townsend-Small said. "Because drinking water in southern California is imported over very long distances, it is responsible for large energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission rates." It is concluded that cities should allow recycled wastewater to supplement drinking supplies, not just be used for irrigation purposes.

If the United Nations Climate Conference in Durban is to result in a binding deal, South Africa must convince partners in the BRICS group, China and India, to reach the "middle ground" on greenhouse gas mitigation, says Norway's chief climate negotiator Henrik Harboe. "India and China are crucial as they are responsible for an increasing share of global emissions," he said, as South Africa president Jacob Zuma visited Norway.

Harboe also stressed the importance of reversing Japan's position on extension of the Kyoto Protocol. Japan, along with Russia and Canada, is opposed to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, while many developing countries are strongly in favour. The European Union is trying to find a middle road. "An important group of countries has opened up a conversation about if the European Union engages in a type of second commitment period, what would that be like?" Christiana Figueres, climate treaty executive secretary, said recently. "I would say governments are in a creative phase and will explore what would be a middle ground which has to be acceptable to all countries," she added.