The Climate change challenges for PNG is to balance economic growth with sustainable development, Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change John Pundari said.
Mr Pundari said climate change is an environment and development challenge for the 21st century affecting every continent and country and PNG also has it challenges and opportunities.
He said to tap into these opportunities, the necessary institutional structure that are international acceptable need to be put in place to access and channel international funds for climate financing to support priority adaptation and mitigation projects and program.
“We have laid a strong foundation that will allow the country to transition into a low carbon pathway. For PNG whose development is constrained by the rugged terrains, lack of infrastructure and ever growing population, we are now running into major energy security issues. We cannot deny our plight, to serve our citizens, grow our economy and sustain it,” he said to some of the legislative and policy frameworks in place.
” PNG need to look forward to a future to consider blending renewable energy to address the consumer demand for electricity generation. Even coal as a potential energy source is being considered and need to have a discussion and debate on this before moving forward. PNG’s high environmental standards will need to be met and operation of such power plant should it be given the go ahead, will be conditional upon the project proponent’s ability to effectively manage the emissions of green house gases.
“These standards are mandatory across the world and PNG is no exception. We cannot sacrifice our development aspirations by totally rejecting one form of energy source to the other. However, we must strike a balance to see how best PNG can meaningfully take advantage of the opportunities present and at the same time commit to our climate change mitigation targets. For instance, how can we produce energy from coal to assist us attain our national objectives of development and at the same time mitigate greenhouse gases and other hazardious gases that may cause serious health issues. We need to know the details of the types of technology to be used to reduce their carbon emissions from coal production.
“I am proud to say that I have vibrant technical team who made a submission to the UNFCCC on the development of a rule under the Paris Agreement that recognises ‘Economic Diversifications’ which includes energy mixes, because the Paris Agreement allows us to do that,” he said.
He said it is not the intention of the Paris Agreement to sabotage economic and social development, rather allow countries to decide what is best for them.
He said the Government is committed to ensuring that it delivers the maximum economic benefit to its people while protecting the natural resources for the future generation.