IPCC Report: Governments must act to limit global warming to 2 degrees celsius by AFP / DPA / Bloomberg 12:32am 4th May, 2007   5.5.2007.    Nations ''can tackle warming''. (AFP)    Nations have the money and the technology to save the world from the worst ravages of global warming, but they must start acting immediately to succeed, experts have agreed.    After five days of intense negotiations, the experts from 120 nations endorsed a report laying out proposals to fight climate change which they said were cheap and easy enough for political leaders to act on right away.    "If we continue to do what we are doing now, we are in deep trouble," said Ogunlade Davidson, co-chair of the UN''s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which produced the report.    "This report is all about solutions to climate change," Davidson said, emphasising that the way forward was about doing things differently rather than sacrifice.    The options laid out covered simple measures like switching to energy efficient light bulbs and adjusting the thermostat in the office.    But they also included the storing of carbon dioxide — the major greenhouse gas — underground instead of letting it spew into the atmosphere ( howver this carbon capture technology is said to be at least 10 years away from realization).    Renewable energies, such as wind, solar and biofuel, were highlighted as an important part of the mix, while the experts said putting a price on using the fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases was important.    Environmental groups hailed the report as a victory for science over politics — after fierce debate among the delegates this week – and said the onus was now on governments to act without delay.    "WWF believe it is a historic moment here," said Stephan Singer, a climate and energy specialist from the conservation organisation. "It has been shown for the first time that stopping climate pollution in a very ambitious way does not cost a fortune ... there is no excuse for any government to argue that it is going to cause their economy to collapse."    The IPCC report presented a best-case scenario of limiting global warming to 2.0-2.4 degrees Celsius (3.6-4.3 degrees Fahrenheit), generally recognised as the threshold when the most extreme ravages of climate change will begin.    Ramping up use of the new technologies that do not emit greenhouse gases, increasing energy efficiency and other methods to achieve this target would shave less than 0.12 percent off world economic growth each year, it said.    To keep global warming in the best-case range, nations have to make sure that greenhouse gases — blamed for most of the world''s rising temperature — must start declining by 2015. The report said greenhouse emissions would have to be cut to between 50 and 85 percent of year 2000 levels by 2050.    The report presented other scenarios in which the cost to the economy would be less but the greenhouse gases and consequent global warming much higher.    Delegates taking part in the closed-door talks said throughout the week that, China, which fears a slowdown in its surging economic growth, had led concerns about the price of fighting global change. Despite the haggling, however, negotiators and environmental groups said the final report had not been watered down for political reasons.    "It came out much better than we thought," the WWF''s Mr Singer said. "This is a victory of science over the fossil fuel industry (and) economic sceptics."    The report emphasises that the tools for reducing greenhouse gas emissions already exist and many can be quickly implemented. The text of the report calls for greater use of renewable energies such as solar, wind, and hydro-power, as well as ways to use energy more efficiently.    Nascent technology to store carbon dioxide, the biggest greenhouse gas, underground is also mentioned, as are tariffs and other economic mechanisms to make using fossil fuels more expensive and renewable energies much cheaper.    The report said that a priority in tackling climate change is how to cut the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.    The IPCC report also said individuals could do their part through lifestyle changes, with the co-chairs of the panel saying even discarding the tie at work so the air conditioner could be turned down in summer would help.    Greenpeace demanded a "serious political response" from world leaders. "With this report we now have very, very clear options on how to deal with climate change," said Stephanie Tunmore, a Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner.    "It''s up to the policymakers to now make a decision on what is a dangerous level of climate change and make sure we avoid it." This is a victory of science over the fossil fuel industry (and) economic sceptics," Mr Singer from WWF told AFP soon after the document was approved. "Start tomorrow, don''t wait for another summit," he urged governments.    4.5.2007 (DPA)    Climate experts and representatives from 105 countries have outlined the ways and means of preventing a climatic catastrophe due to global warming.    "I think this report will raise public awareness among the public of the extent of climate change the world can expect and the impacts of it as well as measures that could be adopted for mitigating emissions of greenhouse gases and the relatively low costs at which we can implement those measures," said Rajebdra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations'' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that met in Bangkok this week.    The IPCC''s Bangkok report, its third this year, focused on the economic implications and technological options for tackling global warming and stated that emissions must start declining by the year 2015 to prevent the world''s temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrialized temperatures.    While the IPCC do not provide directives on what governments should do to slow global warming, they are designed to influence the world political debate on the issue.    "I think world leaders are starting to realize the material that is presented in our reports and this is going to be a major item for discussion at the G8 summit (in June) and its happening all over, for instance there was an attempt to bring it (global warming) up in the UN Security Council," Pachauri told a press conference.    The report states that the low costs of investing in mitigating measures, through improved efficiency and the use of technologies currently available, to avoid a climatic catastrophe in the coming decades is less than 0.12 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP) per annum.    "The naysayers have always said that this will wreck our economies," said Hans Verolme, director of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature''s (WWF''s) Global Climate Change Programme.    Verolme added that the cost of doing nothing is 20 times worse than paying for technologies today. "This is a no brainer," he said, adding that 40 cent of the solution is better efficiency of existing infrastructure.    The report, provided a summary of the state of climate change and a list of policy and technology options available to governments to mitigate a looming climatic catastrophe. For instance, it noted that between 1970 to 2004, greenhouse gas emissions rose 70 per cent, primarily due to carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and deforestation.    The panel''s first report, released in February in Paris, confirmed that global warming was happening while the second, issued in April in Brussels, focused on the impact of the phenomenon on the world''s populations and species.    The report points out that the costs of saving the planet are miniscule compared with global warming''s potential damages, but it is important that politicians also acknowledge this in the IPCC''s third report of 2007.    The Bangkok meeting of the IPCC attracted more than 217 government representatives from 105 countries to seek an international consensus on how to reduce greenhouse gases.    Political acceptance that it is economically and technologically possible to slow global warming is deemed an important stepping stone toward action.    "I think what we need from the next G8 summit is a clear message that these leading economies are committed to keeping temperature rises below 2 degrees and secondly that they will do what it takes to reach an agreement in Bali to start formal negotiations," said Verolme on Thursday on the sidelines of the IPCC. (dpa)    May 4,2007    Global Warming must be kept in Check, UN Panel Says, by Alex Morales. (Bloomberg)    Keeping concentrations of gases at levels similar to those in the air today will cost less than 3 percent of world economic output by 2030, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said today in its third report of the year.    “We can go a long way to addressing this problem at relatively low costs with a range of options across a lot of sectors," Pete Smith, professor of global change at Aberdeen University in Scotland and a lead author of the study, said in an interview in Bangkok. “We''ve got a big problem on our hands and this report provides governments with a way out."    In two earlier reports this year, the panel, or IPCC, has said global warming is very likely caused by human activities including the release of gases from burning fossil fuels, and that rising temperatures will cause increased floods, droughts and extinctions of species. The panel''s work is designed to feed into government policy on tackling climate change.    The report says that stabilization of greenhouse gases can be achieved by changing the energy mix used around the world, introducing more fuel-efficient vehicles and appliances, improving building and home energy use and changing the way agricultural land is managed. Individuals can also change their lifestyles.    “An extremely powerful message in this report is the need for human society as a whole to start looking at changes in lifestyles and consumption patterns," Pachauri said.    Carbon Trading    Another tool available to government is carbon trading, according to the report. Establishing a price equal to $50 per ton of carbon dioxide could reduce emissions by more than half and a price of $100 could achieve a 63 percent cut, because of the incentives to develop cleaner energy sources, it said.    Under carbon trading, companies are set emission targets. If they undershoot those targets they''re able to sell credits to other businesses that are unable to meet their targets.    Emissions of carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas, are projected to rise by as much as 110 percent by 2030 if no action is taken to minimize them, the panel said. Scientists have linked the gas, produced by burning fossil fuels, to climate change. Higher emissions lead to higher temperatures, they say.    “If we continue to do what we are doing, then we are in very deep trouble," said Ogunlade Davidson, co-chair of the working group that produced the report.    Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are about 425 parts per million (ppm) and rising. Stabilizing greenhouse gases at 445 ppm may hold increases in global temperature since industrialization at 2 degrees Celsius, according to the report. That''s the level beyond which the European Union has said the effects may become dangerous and irreversible. Global average temperatures have risen 0.76 of a degree already.    Emissions Peak    To achieve stabilization at that level, emissions must peak by 2015 and then decline by 50 percent to 85 percent by 2050, the panel said, adding that it will shave under 0.12 of a percentage point of world growth a year, leading to a cumulative cost of less than 3 percent of output by 2030.    The cost is a bargain compared with the cost of inaction, said Hans Verolme, head of the World Wildlife Fund''s climate change campaign. A U.K. government report last year said that failure to take action to stave off climate change would cost the world 5 percent to 20 percent of GDP.    “We can keep the climate safe and we can do that with currently available technologies at a cost that is almost negligible" Verolme said in an interview in Bangkok. “We don''t need to wait for a silver bullet."    Kyoto Protocol    At present, 35 countries and the European Union are bound by the Kyoto Protocol, which requires them to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by a combined 5 percent by 2012, when its provisions end. The U.S. rejected the treaty in 2001, and developing nations such as China and India aren''t assigned targets.    Today''s report can now be used by governments when they meet in Bali, Indonesia, in December to discuss climate change and a potential successor to the Kyoto Protocol.    “The science that the IPCC has been able to assess will have a direct impact, and we hope a profound influence" on the talks, Pachauri said. “It''s probably naive to believe that merely to develop the technologies in laboratories and workshops will be the answer, unless there is a package of policies and unless there are market forces."
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