A fair summary from Bangkok: The world can still meet the UN goal to limit global warming provided it cuts annual greenhouse gas emissions by 40-70 percent by 2050, a top expert panel said Sunday. The cost will not be crippling, but the longer it takes to switch to cleaner energy sources, the harder and more expensive it will become to halt warming at the UNs targeted two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned starkly that on present trends the planet would be 3.7-4.8 C warmer by 2100 -- a level many scientists say could be catastrophic. There is a clear message from science: to avoid dangerous interference with the climate system, we need to move away from business as usual, said Ottmar Edenhofer, co-chairman of the UN expert group that compiled the report. While most scenarios for meeting the target require substantial investments, he said, this does not mean that the world... needs to sacrifice economic growth. UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said the findings challenged governments to make the world carbon-neutral in the second half of the century. We cannot play a waiting game where we bet on future technological miracles to emerge and save the day, she said in a statement. bangkokpost/news/world/404873/energy-change-is-key-to-meeting-un-climate-goal
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 23:29:34 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015