The latest IPCC report released by Working Group III in Bangkok yesterday discussed the potential for mitigating the effects of climate change and the economic costs involved.
There were some pretty startling facts in there.
The big one, for me, is that the emissions of greenhouse gases have risen 70% from pre-industrial levels since 1970. The IPCC report estimates that this figure could rise an additional 90% by 2030 if nothing is done.
Based on current emission levels mean that a 1C rise over preindustrial levels is inevitable. Limiting the increase to 2C is regarded as optimistic.
If global emissions peak by 2015, and then begin to rapidly decrease, there is a chance we can restrict warming to under 2.5C by the year 2050. That would require carbon emissions to drop between 50 and 85 percent by 2050.
But, according to the IPCC Working Group II report, even a 2C rise would mean an extra 2 billion people would face water shortages. We also face losing up to a third of the wildlife we share the Earth with today.
It is so different to our concept of life on our planet that it is actually hard to imagine.
Future generations deserve better.
What we do right now - TODAY - will determine whether we see a small or big warming. That choice is ours.
Deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are needed and could only cost us a tiny fraction of world output. According to the IPCC report, keeping the rise in temperatures to within 2C would only cost mere 0.12% of annual gross domestic product.
It seems a trivial price to pay for an habitable planet.
Long-term economic prosperity cannot be separated from environmental sustainability as the Howard government would like us to believe.
You’d think that the cost of the most severe drought in our nation’s history would convince Howard of how climate change can seriously damage the economy.
William Moomaw, a lead author of the report’s chapter on energy options and a Professor of International environmental policy at Tufts University in the USA brought up a a great point in a recent interview.
He says that in these early years of the 21st century, we’re looking at an energy revolution that’s as huge as the one that took us from the days of horse-drawn carriages and gas lamps, to the era of cars and incandescent light bulbs.
In 1905, only 3% of homes had electricity. That is the same amount of renewable energy we use today.
I believe we can make that revolutionary leap forward again.
The main take home message of the latest IPCC report is that the technology to prevent serious warming exists TODAY.
That global warming can be controlled - but we must act now.