New report is final piece in jigsaw, now world leaders must act.
As the last of three ground-breaking climate change reports by leading UN scientists was published in Bangkok, Greenpeace today demanded that world leaders finally wake up to the scale of the climate crisis and act immediately to slash emissions.
"The final piece of the jigsaw in now in place and our leaders have no more excuses," said Charlie Kronick, Greenpeace UK's senior climate campaigner.
"Action to cut greenhouse gas emissions is now the great calling of our time. This year the world’s leading scientists have told us it’s happening, we’re causing it and it's a huge threat to our species. Now they're saying we can act to prevent the worst impacts without breaking the bank, the technology already exists, but we have to start now. This report should be top of Gordon Brown’s summer reading list."
The report, "Mitigation of Climate Change", by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded there are severe risks entailed in delaying emission reductions and that the scale of the action to reduce emissions in the next two to three decades will determine how severe climate change will be.
The study states:
• The technology already exists for countries to tackle the issue through the greater use of renewable energy sources and improving overall energy efficiency.
• Even the aimed-for level of a 2 degree increase could mean up to two billion people facing water shortages by 2050 and could threaten extinction for 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the world's species.
• Stabilising greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid escalating temperatures could cost significantly less than the cost of inaction.
• Climate models have underestimated the level of emission reductions needed to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations, making the need to act more urgent.
• "Safety, weapons proliferation and waste remain as constraints" on nuclear power.
• An enormous contribution to mitigating climate change can be made by protecting the world's forests.
For more information, contact Greenpeace on 0207 865 8255.
