U.N. climate boss warns of ”cheap, dirty” energy fix

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POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) – The world must avoid a “cheap and dirty” fix for the economy that could undermine the fight against global warming, the U.N.’s top climate official said on Sunday.

Yvo de Boer said the world risked a second financial crisis if governments reacted to economic slowdown by building cheap, high-polluting coal-fired power plants that might then have to be scrapped as climate impacts hit.

“What concerns me most is that the financial crisis will lead to a second set of bad investment decisions,” he told a news conference before December 1-12 talks involving 186 nations working on a new climate treaty.

“I hope that the second financial crisis is not going to have its origins in bad energy loans,” he said.

Short-sighted investments could lead to a need to build new low-carbon solar or wind power plants in 10-20 years.

Reuters