EU leads clamour for carbon cuts after UN climate change report

forbes
BANGKOK (Thomson Financial) - The European Union (EU) led demands for a deal to slash global greenhouse-gas emissions after the UN's top scientific panel said deep cuts in this pollution over the next couple of decades could avert longer-term climate damage.

In a statement issued shortly after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its report, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas called for a breakthrough in efforts to shape a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

'Negotiations on a new global climate change agreement must be launched at the next UN ministerial conference in December,' Dimas' statement, issued in Brussels, said.

'It is now time for the rest of the international community to follow our lead and commit to ambitious reduction targets.'

The 27 EU countries have vowed to cut their emissions of heat-trapping carbon gases by 20 pct by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. It has offered to deepen this to 30 pct if other major polluters follow suit.

The IPCC report, released in Bangkok today, laid out a menu of options for limiting emissions, adding that the technology and policies were all within reach.

Under one of its scenarios, to keep global warming to 2.0-2.4 C (3.6-4.3 F) over pre-industrial times, emissions would have to peak by 2015 and reduce to 50-85 pct of 2000 levels by 2050. The cost would shave around 0.12 percentage points off annual global economic growth.

Among the tools it identified are greater use of renewable energy sources and setting a 'carbon price' to drive up the cost of using fossil fuels, thus encouraging energy efficiency and a switch to cleaner sources.