BY NEW BUSINESS ETHIOPIA REPORTER
Reluctance of the United States of America, which is the biggest polluter of environment in the world, has made the international negotiations on climate change sluggish, says the Ethiopian Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Director. 
“Negations [on reducing the harm of global climate change] are going slow because the biggest polluter, the United States of America has not yet made its mind on what to do about it,” Dr. Tewolde Berhane GebreEgziabher, Director of EPA said today (July 22, 2010) at the launch of World Investment Report 2010 here in Addis Ababa.
“While frequencies and intensities of climate change is increasing, the world seems to be paralyzed. It is not moving very fast,” he said in his statement, which described the harm climate change is causing at the moment as, ‘result of dangerous human action of ignorance’.
The Director who is Plant Ecologist by profession also noted that the fact that some fast growing countries’ ignorance has also made the negotiations slow.
“…There are still countries who say: ‘The environment is not our worry; let us grow first and let the riches worry about it’,” he noted.
Meanwhile, he stressed that the industrialized countries has to take the lead in the global efforts of reducing global atmosphere pollution. “…Among other things they have the money and the technology, which enable the world live without polluting further the atmosphere,” he said.
According to the World Investment Report 2010, participation of transnational corporations of the industrialized nations and strategic use of foreign investment can help developing countries and transition economies to start low-carbon economic development.
“Although international climate change negotiations are proceeding slowly, the main issue of concern for developing countries- finance and technology – can partly be addressed through better harnessing transnational corporations’ resources. Governments can do this by adopting ‘clean’ national investment promotion programs,” the report contends.
