UNEP to unveil report on size of Expo's carbon footprint

SHANGHAI - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will issue a report to assess the carbon footprint from the Shanghai World Expo at the end of the event, a senior UN official said Sunday.

The report will review the goals set by the organizers of the Expo and study how a low carbon footprint, as well as how environmental responsibility and efficiency at the Expo could be achieved, said UN Under Secretary General Achim Steiner, who also serves as the executive director of the UNEP.

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Citing the use of electric buses and hydrogen powered vehicles, Steiner told Xinhua, in an exclusive interview, that many experiments and innovations using green energy and technology have been carried out at the Expo site.

"We want to look at the end of the Expo to see how well [they] did this work and also to calculate whether it achieve the lower carbon emissions if it has to be as busy as usual," he said.

Noting that the Expo should not only be about governments building pavilions, Steiner said the report will also look at how well the Expo managed to involve China's citizens and non-governmental organizations with their ideas about the future.

"We hope that the countries which brought the latest technology and ideas about the future here will help to inspire China's development and the lessons from here can travel to all corners of the world," he added.

The United Nations Environment Programme has conducted various joint programs with China, Steiner said, highlighting the basic scientific study and the analysis of the environmental impact on development, among others.

"Today what we are doing is trying to look at the solutions," said Steiner, adding that the Expo is demonstrating that many technology options are available to produce the same amount of electricity and transportation without using so many resources.

"We will assess what will be the legacy of the Expo for Shanghai, China and the world," he added.

China's green efforts were highly  praised at the "UNEP Environmental Assessment Expo 2010 Shanghai China" in reviewing the environmental impact of holding the Expo, which opened last August.