By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA (Reuters) - Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday he was optimistic that the world could agree on a climate change accord with the support of the U.S. administration of Barack Obama.
In his opening remarks to the Global Humanitarian Forum, Annan said the clock was ticking for the world to avert extreme storms, floods and droughts that will intensify with global warming.
"Every year we delay, the greater the damage, the more extensive the human misery," he told an audience at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, also warning of "cost, pain and disruption of inevitable action later."
His group's two-day meeting has drawn together heads of U.N. agencies with government officials and experts for talks on practical ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions that scientists expect to stoke global warming and cause rising sea levels and loss of food production.
Annan, 71, said he hoped their discussions on "the greatest environmental and humanitarian concern of our age" would help set the stage for a deal in Copenhagen in December on a successor to the Kyoto accord.
"A new president and new administration in the United States have demonstrated their seriousness about combating climate change. Given that the U.S. is the greatest source of emissions, this raises optimism for Copenhagen and beyond," Annan said.
More than 190 countries will meet in Copenhagen to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which regulates emissions of greenhouse gases.
Economic stimulus efforts in Washington, Brussels and around the world in response to the global economic downturn have also pumped investment into low-carbon energy and alternative technologies that could create jobs and boost sustainable projects, Annan said.
Climate experts have warned pledges by industrialised nations to cut emissions by 2020 fall far short of the deep cuts widely advocated to avert dangerous climate change.
Overall emissions cuts promised by industrialised nations in the run-up to December's meeting now average between 10 and 14 percent below 1990 levels, according to Reuters calculations. The U.N. Climate Panel says cuts must be in the 25-40 percent range below 1990 levels to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
(Editing by Janet Lawrence)
