FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE TELLS MARKETPLACE OF THE ECONOMIC REALITIES OF CLIMATE CHANGE: "...PUTTING A PRICE ON CO2 EMISSIONS IS THE WAY TO INTRODUCE A LEVEL OF REALITY..."
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FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE TELLS MARKETPLACE OF THE ECONOMIC REALITIES OF CLIMATE CHANGE: "...PUTTING A PRICE ON CO2 EMISSIONS IS THE WAY TO INTRODUCE A LEVEL OF REALITY..."
FULL AUDIO AND TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE AT MARKETPLACEíSCOPENHAGEN BLOG
December 9, 2009, Los Angeles, Calif. & St. Paul, Minn.; In his first interview since the commencement of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009, former Vice President Al Gore talks with public radio's Marketplace, sharing his confidence that delegates will come to an agreement. Gore elaborates on the economic realities of and the possibilities for a "low-carbon economy".
The interview will air TODAY, December 9 on local public radio stations, to find local stations and broadcast times, visit marketplace.org, where complete audio of the interview is also available.
Addressing the disparity in levels of income between countries Gore says: "...there will be an international fund established to help these poor countries with the adjustments they won't be able to make. The argument will be over the size of that fund."
When asked what has to come out of Copenhagen, to make climate change a viable investment and economic opportunity, Gore continues: "...the sooner we recognize the reality of the situation and start having rules of the road that let investors and business people and everybody get a clearer picture of the real value of the choices we're making, the better it's going to be for our economy, the better it's going to be for our children."
Gore continues: "Think about what happened after the Internet was introduced...in the same way the development of these smart grids with much more efficient energy generation, storage, transmission, distribution and consumption will trigger a giant, global marketplace" adding, "...there's going to be a giant new family of industries coming out of this transition to a low-carbon economy".
Marketplace joined the ever-engaging climate change discussion with, "The Climate Race", ongoing coverage and special series devoted to climate change and its effects on the global economy. Audio and interactive tools of "The Climate Race" are available at marketplace.org/climate. Part one of the series addressed what's at stake; how it's already affecting us and the tough choices lie ahead. Part two turned an economic focus on climate change, and what executive producer of Marketplace JJ Yore calls, the "...greatest economic transformation human beings have ever seen".
In the culmination of these series, Marketplace's Sam Eaton and Stephen Beard are reporting and live-blogging from the summit in Copenhagen, all available on the Copenhagen Blog. Users can access us up-to-date text, photos, and video as Eaton and Beard share their impressions of the events in and around the conference through December 18.
All excerpts from the interview must be credited to American Public Media's Marketplace.
Marketplace is public radio's daily magazine on business and economics news, hosted by Kai Ryssdal, reaching more than 5 million listeners weekly.