Cancun Climate Conference 'using as much energy as a village for a year'

Amazing figure about a "Climate Control Meeting
The Cancun Climate Conference is using up as much energy as a small village in England for a whole year. More than 190 countries are meeting in the luxury resort for two weeks to discuss the best way to bring down global carbon emissions.

The total carbon footprint of the conference, according to the Mexican Government, is 25,000 tonnes. This is equivalent to 4,500 UK households for a year or the same amount of carbon as a poor African nation such as Somalia would pump out in two weeks.

The carbon footprint of the conference is five times as much as the last meeting in Copenhagen, even though less people are attending the conference. There are around 15,000 delegates this year compared to around 45,000 people from governments, media and non-governmental organisations in Copenhagen.

However Herando Guerrero, the chief of staff for the Minister of the Environment, insisted the reason emissions are so much higher is because the Mexican Government are taking more comprehensive measurements.

He said the measurement this year includes all the flights taken by the delegates, energy use and even food. "The emissions at Copenhagen were estimated at below 5,000 tonnes. In Cancun it will be 4 or 5 times that amount because we are considering everything. Emissions from every trip, all transport, food. We are taking the information to calculate the carbon footprint."

The Government has also installed a 1.5MW wind turbine on the approach to the conference centre and solar panels on the roof of the Moon Palace Hotel where most meetings are taking place. Delegates are being driven from hotels to the conference centre in buses powered by biofuels.

There are recycling points scattered around the conference but Mr Guerrero admitted the nearest recycling facility is hundreds of miles away in Mexico City.He said the all the carbon will be offset through protecting forests and planting trees in poor areas of Mexico. The government will pay £7 ($10) to farmers for every tonne of carbon that is "neutralised."

Altogether the Mexican Government is spending £43 million on the conference, including security and transport.However Alejandra Serrano, an environmental lawyer in Cancun, said wider environmental issues should have been considered.

She pointed out that Cancun itself is an 'environmental disaster'. The resort was built 30 years ago on a pristine mangrove island and has since grown uncontrollably.

The huge concrete hotels have destroyed the mangrove forests, meaning the beach has entirely eroded and sand has to be dredged in every two years. The lagoon is polluted and most of the island is now paved.She said the Government should be bringing in strict regulations to stop further development of the coast, installing proper recycling facilities and protecting the coral reefs and mangrove forests that are left before it is too late.

"With the eyes of the world on Cancun, we should be using this conference to make sure the environment is protected in future," she said.

Talk the talk but not : walk the walk