Lewis Smith, Environment Reporter
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The technology to prevent catastrophic global warming exists, but the world needs to act quickly, scientists and politicians agreed yesterday at a United Nations conference.
Restricting temperature rises to 2.4C (4.3F) globally by 2050 will require carbon emissions to peak by 2015, the Intergov-ernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) declared.
Its report on the potential for mitigating the effects of climate change and the costs involved, Summary for Policymakers, was agreed by delegations from more than 120 nations, including China, India and the US.
It identified a maximum 2 to 2.4C rise in temperatures as costing 0.12 of annual world-wide gross domestic income but governments must sign up to it almost immediately.
Current emission levels mean that a 1C rise over preindustrial levels is inevitable and limiting the increase to 2C is regarded as optimistic.
A scenario allowing for emissions to peak in 2020 would lead to a projected temperature rise of between 2.4 and 2.8C, while a peak by 2030 would result in a rise of between 2.8 and 3.2C. Inaction could cause devastating climate change with 6C increases in 100 years.
The report was welcomed by environmentalists as “a road map” to saving the planet. The Royal Society said: “This report offers hope for the future. We cannot undo the harm that has already been done . . . however, it provides us with a realistic way forward.”
The European Union intends to use the IPCC’s conclusions to demand a successor to the Kyoto treaty at the UN ministerial conference in December.
However, even a 2C rise by the middle of the century would mean an extra 2 billion people short of water, and the extinction of between 20 and 30 per cent of wildlife species.
The IPCC said that it wants every country to be subject to carbon trading schemes, in which companies pay for the carbon they emit. Carbon capture and storage, in which carbon is caught as it is produced and stored in rock formations under the sea, was high-lighted as a key technology.
Similarly, reduced dependence on fossil fuels through the expansion of the nuclear industry and renewable energy were regarded as important factors.
The IPCC suggested increasing nuclear capacity from 16 to 18 per cent of world energy supply and increasing renewables such as wind, solar and tidal power from 18 per cent to between 30 and 35 per cent.
Each sector of society must play its role, according to the report. Farmers are expected to improve land management so that the soil absorbs more carbon. The transport sector was urged to bring in more hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles.
A reduction in deforestation was cited as an important route to cutting carbon emissions.
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If it is true or not that humans are the reason for the earths warming or just alittle; we should all be concerned. No matter who we are , were we live , our income ect.... some how we should all be able to do what we can to help. Everyone should be able to afford a fuel-effcient car, buy the enery saving light bulbs etc... right now!!!
My concers are or questions are this. Why does an issue like this have to revolve around what our political leaders with money and power will do? Why is it that the everyday working person does not have much of a say so? If there is such urgence now, how can all of us take much stronger actions today ? If our leaders have other issues to deal with or are not taking more action on their end to prevent the problem from becoming worse in the future ;are we just doomed to burn up and die?
Jennifer Stowers, Highland Village, Texas
global warming is a provable fact; we can compare CO2 concentrations with the weather in a particular year by simply taking samples from the ice caps in the poles which have layers as old as 600000 year. from the ice you can measure the CO2 concentration by measuring how much CO2 is in it and temperature by measuring the width, and it is a fact that neither temperature nor carbon emissions have ever risen as rapidly as since the industrial age onwards.yes, im sure the government is exploiting th situation as it has always done throughout history, but this is not a question of how much is our government willing to make but how much are we as individuals willing to make to change this situation.
Alberto, Frankfurt, Germany
"Global warming" has a simplistic and authoritarian message:; namely that we have had too much and it is time to reign in our desires. It seems painfully ironic that it is always the richest and most privileged that are preaching about this. One only has to witness the roll-call of the Live Earth gang-bang. I'd rather stick to Jim Morrison's line; "we want the world and we want it now!"
Politicians are using dodgy science to back up their rigid designs to manage us as a compliant resource, with all that we take from the earth measured and rationed out. These draconian rules obviously do not apply to the guilty rich who pay their penance with endless, pompous pronouncements. A bankrupt political class seek to reinvigorate their moral character by speaking on behalf of the earth as they once did on behalf of God and their divinely selected rulers.
Dave Humphrey, Manchester UK,
According to estimates by scientists who are not paid by UN organisations, only about 6% of global warming is due to human activity. If you disagree with this figure, please state where your evidence can be found. Even if the figure is twice as much, controlling human carbon emissions is clearly a waste of time.
Carey Harmer, Chengdu, China
How can nations act now when they can't even agree that there is a problem ? How is the problem going to be solved when Governments simply try and pass the buck onto consumers instead of targeting heavy polluting industries , because it's bad for business ? What is wrong with doing the right thing for the planet , even if it's not as urgent as some suggest ?
To me , it just seems such a huge gamble to ignore all the warnings , and it's a gamble we just can't afford to lose . There can no closing the stable door after this horse has bolted , indeed , there is likely to be no left stable at all .
Benzo , Nr Chelmsford,
Global warming is just a way for politicans to try and suck more taxes out of us and trying to make us feel good about it. Reduce carbon emissions if it's for public health reasons maybe but for global warming they're having a laugh
Roland Renner, sutton bridge, UK
The sky is falling! I am sick to death of the doomsday worriers.
Prove it!
Carl Muench, Vancouver, Washington
This is the most moronic drivel imaginable. CO2 has only a fraction of the "greenhouse gas effect'" than that of water vapor, ( vapor contains no letter "u"), and watering your yard for a season has more "warming" effect than driving your car for 100 years.
This is just the left's latest pathetic attempt to control the means of production and limit capitol investment.
Carl Sturgess, Boston,
I don't trust environmentalists who say we are changing the weather, but somehow, and very conveniently, if we can change our ways then global warming can be stopped. There are over 2.5 billion people in India and China, most of whom have yet to achieve first world standards of living. They will all want their iPods and air conditioning and so if man is affecting the worlds climate now, then we better start moving to higher ground now as the waters will rise when the polar caps melt
Adrian, London,
To Mr Pearson (comment above) living in the fresh air in sparsely populated Canada, I'd like to suggest to 'get out a bit more'. Visiting Seoul S. Korea would be good start. - It is a medical fact that much oxygen causes tunnel vision and impaired judgement.
***********We in the UK are told to switch of our stand by equpments in order to use less power. Yet in Seoul S.Korea, every building is covered with electricity powered neon signs that ispowered from dusk till dawn. The total lack of concern and care is disturbing. The cars on Seoul's roads are all huge gas guzzling giants. Everything is packaged into unecessary amount of paper and plastic. The waste of resources are incredible yet noone seem talk about it here less change this insustainable situation. The West may have a lot to answer for but developing counties must also admit to contribute to this dire situation and must make steps to reduce CO2 emission.
Victoria, Seoul, S. Korea
You can pass these facts as just a fund making scheme but the truth is that temperatures are rising and we are creating more CO2 emmisisons now more than ever. We can already see the effects of global warming and the science of it is simple.
This isn't something we can just sweep under the rug and ignore. I'm not saying we must all drive hybrid cars and plant a tree after every car journey, but we must do our bit. Whether it's just switching off a light when leaving the room, or turning off appliances at the plug instead of leaving it on standbuy. We must try to cut emissions some how before it really does get out of hand.
Michael Ashton, Brighton, England
It's interesting that when there is nearly unanimous consensus among the world's top scientists and policy makers that global warming is a very real problem, and that a plentitude of facts and models support this, that so many people still claim this is nonsense.
While there are cycles of global warming and cooling, the evidence is clear on how use of fossil fuels impact greenhouse gases and global warming, that people contribute much more CO2 to global warming than volcanos or other natural sources, that it is very significant, and that the time frame for serious and perhaps irreversible impacts may not be that far off. And in fact, most weather is being quite accurately predicted to further time frames than just a few years ago.
Don Ferber, Madison, Wisconsin
Are there still people who believe this nonsense?
Andrew Pearson, Lorraine, Quebec
Climatologists cannot even accurately predict tomorrow's weather. Are we to really believe they knoiw what will happen in 100 years? This is the greatest fund-raising scam ever creted.
Norman Stern, Naples, Florida
lobal warming is inevitable because while the human population do affect the atmosphere and climate etc, it is relatively such an insignificance. An errupting volcano causes more hamfull pollution than we do in a year and even then, the link in global warming is 800years out. Why are these facts not made more public?
I'm all for recycling and preserving the earths natural resources, but global warming?
katharine, sheffield,
O K . Time for facts. These are facts that have been proven, and not just "idea's. Does anyone remember the massive screwup with MTBE..This was hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bead. Caused lots of deaths. Biodiesel, produces vast quatities od formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and also my favorite NOX. This is anywhere from 200-300 times as potent as CO2..Another "inconvenient truth".
Desmond Taylor, Houston, USA Texas
So, messrs Taylor, O'Donovan & Burns, the conclusions reached by a couple of thousand of the world's top climate scientists mean nothing compared to your own uninformed, unscientific opinions?
Desmond Taylor: Politicians don't need excuses for taxes. They always tax something, otherwise there would be no schools, roads, hospitals or armies. The tiny amount of green taxation so far has been a joke. Plenty of studies have mentioned water vapour - it's a greenhouse gas too.
Kieran O'Donovan: predicting the weather day to day is a completely different ballgame from predicting the climate. Have you noticed it's generally colder in January than July?
Inaction on climate change will NOT cause 'no real change' - that's why it's not mentioned.
R. Burns: So one scientist got it wrong 30 years ago. Science has got on by leaps and bounds since then in virtually every field, including climate prediction, and global warming is the conclusion of EVERY reputable climate scientist
Bill Linton, London,
Aren't they supposed to frighten us a bit longer before coming up with the solution? I don't think people have been softened up sufficiently to beg for the necessary tax rises yet.
t cox, Las Vegas, NV
Global Warming is a bunch of tosh, just an excuse for politicians to tax . In addition it provides wonderful grants to "scientists" who admit that the results to be verfied will not happen while they are alive.!! An inconvenient if ever there was one. Also none of these "studies" have mentioned water vapour. As the surface of the planet is 70% water,maybe it has an effect on the weathes.. I suppose that is heresy in the new relgion of ECO-Wacko.
Desmond Taylor, Houston, USA Texas
"Inaction could cause devestating climate change..."
They can't even predict tomorrow's temperature accurately. What makes us think any of their models can predict the climate 5, 10, 20 or 50 years ahead.
Incation on carbon emissions could also cause no real change to the climate at all, but tha'ts not even mentioned.
Kiernan O'Donovan, Denver, Colorado
world famine, world chaos, and probably world war, and this could all come by the year 2000.
Global warming? Nope, the results of global cooling as predicted by Lowell Ponte in his 1976 book "The Cooling"
r. burns, Tampa, fl