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IBM takes tough stance on climate change

Alex Kayle
By Alex Kayle, Senior portals journalist
Johannesburg, 21 Dec 2009

Mounting pressure by talks in the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is placing binding agreements on developed and developing countries to drastically slash carbon emissions.

According to Reuters, UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon has called the negotiations the most complex and ambitious ever to be undertaken by the world community.

Sustainable future

In light of climate change, IBM recently addressed South African decision makers on how to create a sustainable future using energy efficient technology.

IBM has vowed that it will become more aggressive in its global Smart Planet initiative, which aims to foster the thinking, provide the tools and help create strategies that will drive positive change at a global scale.

IBM's Dario Debarbieri, software marketing manager for South West Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa says: “While there is a growing awareness among South African corporates and government of the need to create a more energy efficient sustainable future, there are numerous best practices and approaches within the IBM Smart Planet strategy that will assist to drive critical thinking and develop strategies that will enable greater efficiencies, improve their bottom line and generate a positive impact on the environment.”

Debarbieri says that IBM's Smart Planet initiative is built on four critical pillars, which IBM has dubbed new intelligence, dynamic infrastructure, green and beyond, and smart work.

It's only a matter of time when governments bring in green regulations, he says, and transformation to smarter, best-practice technology architectures and approaches will not only lessen an organisations' impact on the environment, but will also improve its competitiveness.

Mobilising nations

During the Copenhagen summit, the US said that by 2020 it would try to mobilise $100 billion a year for climate aid and would cut carbon emissions by 17% against 2005 levels, or 4% against 1990 levels by 2020. The EU said it would cut carbon emissions by 20% against 1990 levels.

British prime minister Gordon Brown has called for a $10 billion annual fund to help developing nations cope with climate change, with a legally binding agreement to be submitted within six months.

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