Bill Clinton said the economy of the world’s biggest consumer, that is, the US would recover faster from the recession and financial crises if more effort was made to use resources sustainably, reports Fiona Harvey at the UK Guardian. “We can grow even faster if we use less energy,” said Clinton. “We have studies that show this. All that we need to do is find ways to finance this.” He said the current financial system favoured the building of major projects such as coal-fired power stations, despite their energy intensity, because the value of energy efficiency was underrated. Big financial backers are used to weighing up the finances of major infrastructure works, because they have long developed the financial models to work out the payback on their investment over the project’s lifetime. But financing efficiency projects is more complex, Clinton noted, and has received much less attention from investors, because the payback is spread more diffusely among thousands of companies and individuals. Clinton also called for countries to make much more effort to cut lesser known greenhouse gases, such as methane and soot from inefficient fossil fuel burning.
Source:
Bill Clinton: cutting use of natural resources would help US economy. Bill Clinton has warned that the US needs to cut its consumption of natural resources if it is to stave off the threats of climate change and rising prices. The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/13/bill-clinton-natural-resources-us
