Summit Notebook

A second installment of our Global Environment Summit interview with Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP).

In this audio clip, Steiner, citing the Montreal Protocol as an example, explains how an accelerated phasing-in of a proper regulatory environment under the Kyoto Protocol can initiate the development of a universal market economy mechanism that also acts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Montreal Protocol, celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year, is widely seen as the most successful international environmental agreement to date. It aims to cut down on emissions of chemicals that deplete the stratospheric ozone layer, which shields the Earth from ultraviolet solar radiation that can cause skin cancer and other ailments.

Delegates from around the world will meet in Bali, Indonesia in December to discuss a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.