GENEVA, May 15: Key decisions must be taken within five years on measures to tackle climate change if the world wants to cope with an expected doubling of energy demand over the next half century, the environmental group WWF said on Tuesday.
Delays would expose the planet to dangerous warming within a lifetime or force even harsher and costlier measures that could cause significant damage to the global economy, WWF International said in a technical report.
“The question for leaders and governments everywhere is how to rein in dangerously high levels of carbon dioxide emissions without stunting development and reducing development and reducing living standards,” said WWF Director General James Leape.
“We have only five years to take necessary steps to deal with the problem and we can’t afford to waste this time,” he added.
The report set a target of limiting the increase in global average temperatures to two degrees centigrade by 2050 and a 50 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions in the same timeframe.
The WWF agreed with a recent report by a UN panel of scientists underlining that the worst consequences of global warming can be averted with known technologies, alternative energy sources and energy-saving measures.
The report advocated six key solutions, including more efficient energy use, the reversal of deforestation, accelerated development of low emission technologies such as wind and solar power, as well as energy storage.
The WWF also wants coal-fired power stations to be replaced by gas, and more carbon capture and sequestration to cope with continuing emissions from fossil fuels like oil.
Together they could cut carbon dioxide emissions by about 60 to 80 per cent by 2050 provided they are implemented on time.
Leape rated measures like investment in energy efficiency in buildings and transport as “no brainers” because they could bring huge gains at relatively low cost and with little risk.
The report underlined that if concerted decisions are taken by every country within five years, the measures could start to have the desired impact in a decade “based on the real world constraints” of industry’s ability to adapt.
The “Climate Solutions: WWF’s Vision for 2050” was produced by a task force that includes 100 scientists and experts.
It focussed purely on the issue of what is known about the technologies and physical resources available as well as industry’s ability to cope with change.
It did not examine the economic costs, or the exact policies needed to implement the steps.
But the WWF said it was “acutely aware” that ending the dominance of oil and coal, phasing out nuclear power, or rapidly and unsustainably expanding biofuels could cause huge social, environmental and economic upheavals if they are badly managed.Reports by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this year underlined that efforts to stabilise the level of greenhouse gases over the next 20 to 30 years will be crucial in the fight against global warming.
The IPCC scientists said carbon dioxide emissions by industry, transport and households were already having an impact on the world’s climate and were set to wreak huge damage on human settlement and wildlife this century if they went unchecked.—AFP
