Extract from ABC
Updated
States and regions have the ability to tackle climate
change even if national governments find it difficult to reach
agreements, South Australia's Premier Jay Weatherill has said.
Mr
Weatherill and other provincial leaders met UN secretary-general Ban
Ki-moon in Paris on Friday as talks continued in the French capital on a
global climate deal.He said sub-national governments were a leading force in tackling climate change.
"Territory and regional governments are investing in their transport systems, their energy systems, and their waste systems," Mr Weatherill said.
"It falls to state and regional governments and cities to take these steps because there's been so much paralysis at an international level in action on global warming."
South Australia is one of the chairs of the Climate Group States and Regions Alliance, which includes Victoria, New South Wales, the ACT, as well as several Canadian provinces, American states and European regions.
Mr Weatherill said the meeting was told of South Australia's plan to become carbon neutral by 2050.
"We're already out there doing it, and if there are difficulties in national governments reaching these agreements, then we can reach agreements at a sub-national government level and get on with the business of actually taking on global warming."
Mr Weatherill's delegation will be in Paris until Tuesday, and he will be speaking at other international forums.
"We want to offer ourselves as a test bed for new technologies and new ideas that will not only lead us in the fight against global warming, but create the jobs of the future," he said.
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