Federal Environment Minister comments on new IPCC report
On Friday 6 April 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented a new report in Brussels. Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel commented:
"International climate research today is very reliable in determining the consequences of man-made climate change in regions all over the globe. That is substantial progress compared to the last assessment report. The report clearly shows: the greater the change in climate, the more severe the consequences for people and environment. However, the earlier and the more decisively we take measures for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the less severe these consequences will be. Although the delegations from Saudi Arabia, China, the USA and Russia tried to weaken the wording of some of the report's sections, the fundamental statements on the dramatic consequences of climate change could be maintained.
The new report confirms that it is necessary to pursue an ambitious climate protection policy. The Federal Government is using the opportunities offered by its current EU and G8 Presidency to further develop the EU's leading role. This year we have to lay the foundation for a post-2012 multilateral climate protection regime in order to prevent a global warming of more than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. On 9 March the European Council sent important signals for the further development of the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol: the EU will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels on condition that other industrialised countries make comparable efforts and newly industrialising countries, too, make a contribution according to their capabilities. Regardless of the course of international negotiations and the commitments of other countries, the EU wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% by 2020. For this purpose Europe has combined climate protection and energy policy in an integrated approach. Climate protection will also be a key topic at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm.
The new IPCC reports also highlights the need for adaptation measures as climate change, for us as well, is already a reality with a higher frequency of extreme weather events such as heat waves and heavy precipitation leading to more damage. Considerable consequences for a large number of economic sectors, human health and ecosystems are expected in Europe. And even a country like the Netherlands will not be able to protect itself in the extreme event of the western Antarctic ice sheet breaking off. Adaptation cannot make up for climate protection efforts."
Background:
In its reports, the IPCC on behalf of the United Nations establishes the current scientific understanding of climate change as a consensus of the international research community. The report on the impacts of climate change and on adaptation that has now been adopted is the second of three volumes of the Fourth IPCC Assessment Report. Hundreds of scientists from 65 countries contributed to the report, among them 20 from Germany. The impacts of unmitigated climate change, which the report highlights, include:
- Additional hundreds of millions of people would suffer from water scarcity.
- Millions of people would face health risks due to global warming - in particular in regions with low adaptive capacity.
- An increase in mortality, diseases and injuries due to heat waves, flooding, storms, fires and droughts is expected.
- 20-30% of species worldwide are expected to be at increased risk of extinction if global warming exceeds 2 to 3°C above pre-industrial levels.
- Some regions would be particularly affected, for example the Arctic, Africa - especially the southern part - , small islands and densely populated Asian mega-deltas.
The third volume will deal with options for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Publication is scheduled for 4 May 2007.