United Nations Radio

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Copehagen

The leaders of two populous states, attending the climate summit in Copenhagen, said governments cannot act alone on climate change. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California offered to host a separate UN summit for cities, states and regions. Bissera Kostova filed this report.

Schwarzenegger: I'm not the only one that has an accent. It's a good place to come.

NARR: California's Austrian born movie-star governor took to the world stage on Tuesday at the climate change conference in Copenhagen. He paid tribute to the leadership of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on climate change, but he noted that as important as it is to reach an international agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, 80 percent of the cuts in emissions must come at the sub-national level.

Schwarzenegger: I believe in the power of the scientists, the capitalists, and the activists. I believe in the power of the cities and the states and the provinces to be the laboratories for new ideas, which the national governments then can go and study and adapt.

NARR: Governor Schwarzenegger said that California, the seventh largest world economy, has taken the lead in reducing carbon emissions, before such measures were mandated on the national level in the United States.

Schwarzenegger: We are moving forward, as a matter of fact, we are making great progress. If hydro is included, we will get 45% of our energy from renewables in ten years from now. And we are already at 27%. We are proceeding on the world's first low-carbon fuel standards, and limiting greenhouse gas from cars, which by the way, the Obama administration has just now adopted.

NARR: The governor of the state of Sao Paulo in Brazil, Jose Serra, said the territory and population of his state are bigger than those of many countries attending the conference, which calls for concrete actions on climate change to be taken at the state-level.

Serra: We've expanded use of ethanol in flexible fuel vehicles, and with power co-generation using biomass we have nearly stabilized our CO2 emissions over the last 15 years.

NARR: Governor Serra added that Sao Paulo, which has one of the largest sanctuaries of biodiversity on the planet, has put a stop to deforestation of the rainforest, through an enforcement of land use policies. It has also set a target of recovering one million hectares of rainforest by the year 2020. Governor Schwarzenegger pointed out that economic growth and a clean environment can go hand in hand.

Schwarzenegger: I believe that we have economics on our side. Since the supply of wind and sun and algae is unlimited, their prices will not jump. That cannot be said of oil, that cannot be said of coal. So, I believe technological and economic forces will overtake, will overtake the political and the regulatory efforts of national governments. It is very important that we continue with this work, so thank you very much and I'll be back. Thank you, thank you. (applause)

NARR: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Producer: Bissera Kostova, United Nations Radio
Duration: 2'51"