Scientists dispel global warming doubts
Scientists dispel global warming doubts
By Fiona Harvey in Paris
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: February 1 2007 16:31 | Last updated: February 2 2007 20:15
The world’s leading climate scientists on Friday swept away the last doubts surrounding global warming, saying they were certain human activities were altering the climate and warning severe effects were inevitable unless greenhouse gas emissions were curbed.
The evidence for climate change caused by fossil fuel combustion was “unequivocal”, said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body comprising 2,500 climate experts convened by the UN.
Their report predicted severe heatwaves, droughts, storms and floods resulting from an expected rise of 3 degrees Celsius in average global temperatures by 2100. It will be difficult for governments to ignore because it was agreed by all UN members, including the US and China.
Six years in the making, the report is the most authoritative ever produced on climate change and will form the basis for negotiations on a possible successor to the Kyoto treaty, the main provisions of which expire in 2012.
Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, said: “You can see [from the report] what the costs of inaction are. Everything is [included in the report] by consensus, so the implication is that it has the stamp of acceptance by all governments in the world.”
Yvo de Boer, secretary-general of the UN climate change secretariat, said work should now begin on a successor treaty to Kyoto that would include obligations on developed countries to cut carbon dioxide emissions and incentives for poor countries to limit theirs.
Stavros Dimas, the European Union’s environment commissioner, called the IPCC’s findings “a grim report” and urged governments to agree to the European Commission’s proposal of reducing emissions by 30 per cent by 2020.
Jacques Chirac, French president, proposed a new worldwide environmental organisation under the UN, to spearhead action on emissions.
But the report met a cool reception from the US government. Sharon Hays, leader of the US delegation in Paris and deputy director of the White House office of science and technology policy, said: “This summary for policymakers captures and summarises the current state of climate science research and will serve as a valuable source of information for policymakers.”
The US is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and has rejected the Kyoto treaty.
Achim Steiner, director-general of the UN Environment Programme, said in the light of the report’s findings, it would be “irresponsible” to resist or seek to delay actions on mandatory emissions
By Fiona Harvey in Paris
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: February 1 2007 16:31 | Last updated: February 2 2007 20:15
The world’s leading climate scientists on Friday swept away the last doubts surrounding global warming, saying they were certain human activities were altering the climate and warning severe effects were inevitable unless greenhouse gas emissions were curbed.
The evidence for climate change caused by fossil fuel combustion was “unequivocal”, said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body comprising 2,500 climate experts convened by the UN.
Their report predicted severe heatwaves, droughts, storms and floods resulting from an expected rise of 3 degrees Celsius in average global temperatures by 2100. It will be difficult for governments to ignore because it was agreed by all UN members, including the US and China.
Six years in the making, the report is the most authoritative ever produced on climate change and will form the basis for negotiations on a possible successor to the Kyoto treaty, the main provisions of which expire in 2012.
Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, said: “You can see [from the report] what the costs of inaction are. Everything is [included in the report] by consensus, so the implication is that it has the stamp of acceptance by all governments in the world.”
Yvo de Boer, secretary-general of the UN climate change secretariat, said work should now begin on a successor treaty to Kyoto that would include obligations on developed countries to cut carbon dioxide emissions and incentives for poor countries to limit theirs.
Stavros Dimas, the European Union’s environment commissioner, called the IPCC’s findings “a grim report” and urged governments to agree to the European Commission’s proposal of reducing emissions by 30 per cent by 2020.
Jacques Chirac, French president, proposed a new worldwide environmental organisation under the UN, to spearhead action on emissions.
But the report met a cool reception from the US government. Sharon Hays, leader of the US delegation in Paris and deputy director of the White House office of science and technology policy, said: “This summary for policymakers captures and summarises the current state of climate science research and will serve as a valuable source of information for policymakers.”
The US is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and has rejected the Kyoto treaty.
Achim Steiner, director-general of the UN Environment Programme, said in the light of the report’s findings, it would be “irresponsible” to resist or seek to delay actions on mandatory emissions
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