|
|
 |
|
EMISSION IMPOSSIBLE:
Waller-Hunter's crusade against greenhouse gases is personal; she hasn't owned a car in decades |
|
 |
|
Joke Waller-Hunter
56, Dutch
Why She Matters: She's trying to establish environmental rules for the next generation
Location: Bonn, Germany
|
 |
Posted Sunday, Dec. 1, 2002; 15.43GMT
As the woman charged with imple-menting global agreements to control greenhouse gases, Waller-Hunter's work could have a profound effect on business — and she knows it. "Some companies are still very skeptical and would like to stall progress," she says, "but my impression is that the business side as a whole is not that reluctant." She's fostering a credit system for companies that invest in environmentally clean projects in developing countries, and she's also trying to get an emissions-trading scheme off the ground (though she admits that once these systems are up and running, a bigger challenge will be to ensure there's no cheating).
Waller-Hunter, who started her career in environmental affairs working for the Dutch government, has only been with the U.N.'s Framework Convention on Climate Change since May and has a stormy future ahead of her. The U.S. has refused to sign the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which requires nations to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases by about 5% below the 1990 level, and Russia will only decide whether to ratify it next year.
 |
|
"Some companies are still very skeptical and would like to stall progress [on reducing greenhouse gas emissions]"
|
|
 |
A nyet from Moscow could kill the whole deal. "She's in limbo," says Björn Stigson, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which comprises 160 companies including Bayer and BP.
Waller-Hunter's most pressing diplomatic concern is to keep developing countries engaged; some insist they are not the cause of the greenhouse-gas problem in the first place. That means she shuttles around the world trying to hold together a fragile coalition. All that flying isn't something she relishes, she says, because it just adds to the pollution. Waller-Hunter hasn't owned a car since the 1970s and likes to get around by bicycle wherever possible.
 |
|
|
S T R I K E S
 Back to the Barricades
Unions across Europe are striking, bringing back memories of the bad old 1970s. Do governments have the stomach for a fight?
E U R O P E
 Serbia Votes
Hard-line nationalism tries to make a comeback in the Balkans
|
I R A Q
The Kurdish Question
Iraqi Kurds would welcome the fall of Saddam, but fear the instability that may come after he's gone.
P R O F I L E
Brawn and Brains
Ukrainian heavyweight (and Ph.D.) Wladimir Klitschko
|
|
|
|
|
