Damage caused by global warming could be 'irreversible', says IPCC
Written on 2014/11/17
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's – IPCC released in Copenhagen, Denmark, the latest report on climate change and warned that the damage caused by these changes may be irreversible, but there are still ways to avoid them.
The report was launched after a week of intense debate among scientists and officials from governments around the world.
"The human influence on the climate system is clear, the more we disturb our climate, the more risk we have of serious, large and irreversible impacts," said the chairman of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri.
And, according to Pachauri, the whole world will be affected by such damage.
"I want to highlight the fact that climate change will leave no part of the world untouched by the impact we are seeing before our eyes and that obviously will have an increasing relevance in the future."
The chairman of the IPCC stated that "now the scientific community has spoken" and is "passing the baton to the politicians, to the community that makes the decisions." However, Pachauri said there was still hope because "fortunately we have the means to limit climate change and build a more prosperous and sustainable future."
According to the document, the unrestricted use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas), must be suspended until the year 2100 if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change.
The report also suggests that the use of renewable fuels is expected to increase the current share of 30% to 80% of the power sector by 2050.
The UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon also said the main points of the report.
"First, the human influence on the climate system is clear and growing. Second, we must act quickly and decisively if we want to avoid increasingly disturbing results. Third, we have the means to limit climate change and build a better future. "
"There is a myth that the action for the climate costs a lot, but inaction will cost much more," said Ban Ki-moon.
"The report shows that the world is poorly prepared for the risks of climate change, especially the poor and most vulnerable people, who have contributed least to the problem," he added.
“New Model”
Rajendra Pachauri said that this latest report is the strongest and most detailed statement about the scale of the problem of climate change and solutions for it.
"This report actually establishes a new model for scientific evaluation. On the one hand, the report brings all elements of the puzzle that constitute various aspects of climate change, since the underlying scientific basis of impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, and the types of relaxation options we have available."
Pachauri highlighted the fact that the report involved more than 800 authors directly and thousands of other reviewers who analysed about 30,000 publications for the preparation of the document.
"We cannot burn all the fossil fuel we have without dealing with the resulting residue, which is CO2. If we fail to develop (a system of) carbon capture, we have to stop using fossil fuels if we want to stop the dangerous climate change, "said Myles Allen, a professor at Oxford University in Britain, and a member of the IPCC who participated in drafting the document.
David Shukman, science editor of BBC, the report "shows the options for a more direct way than ever before."
"The IPCC tried to make (the report) more acceptable stating that fossil fuels can continue to be used if carbon emissions are captured and stored. But until now the world has only one commercially operating plant of this kind, based in Canada, and the progress of technology development is much slower than many expected, "he said.
Shukman says that the completion of the report, that we cannot keep burning these fuels as we have always done and that the burning of these fuels should be suspended until the end of the century, the governments of the world presents a difficult choice.
The Secretary of State of the USA, John Kerry, described the IPCC document as "more of a canary in the coal mine".
"Those who choose to ignore or question what science has shown so clearly in this report, are at great risk all of us, our children and grandchildren," Kerry said in a statement.
Activists adopted the plain language of the document. "What they said is that we have to get to zero emissions and this is new," said Samantha Smith, of the World Wildlife Fund. "The second thing (highlighted by the report) is that (the solution) is available, it will not cripple economies," he added.
Source: Ambiente Brasil