Joint Press Release with the European Climate Forum
At an international conference in the Berlin House of Representatives, the President of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Rajendra Pachauri and authors of the 4th Assessment Report discussed the key results of the report, which was adopted on 17 November 2007 in Valencia.
Michael Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Environment Min-istry: "The scientific findings are absolutely clear. We must take swift and decisive action in order to keep climate change at a manageable level. Too much time has already been lost. Policy-makers must take up the challenge immediately and send a strong signal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in December: we need a clear mandate for the start of negotiations for the post-2012 period. By 2009 at the latest, the follow-up to the the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol should be clear."
Prof. Carlo Jaeger, Chair of the European Climate Forum: "Climate Change is a global challenge that we can and must tackle together. That requires international environmental diplomacy, but it also requires national initiatives to trigger a competitive open race amongst a large variety of environmental technologies. Germany can become market leader in key sectors, creating millions of jobs, especially in the new ‘Länder’ of the East."
The IPCC Synthesis Report adopted in Valencia summarises the separate working group reports of the 4th Assessment Report, published in the first half of 2007. The key messages are:
- Climate change is taking place, the impacts can be felt. Unless we take coun-termeasures, we face the threat of uncontrollable risks.
- Mankind holds the instruments for mitigating and averting the risks in his hand. Suitable policies and an effective international climate regime can succeed in at least halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.
For the first time the IPCC clearly states the impending risks if global warming continues: an increase of 1 to 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels would seriously jeopardise many unique and endangered ecosystems. If the global temperature rises by more than around 2 to 3 degrees, 20-30 percent of species worldwide would be in danger of extinction. Furthermore, the polar ice caps would be at risk of melting away, which could lead to a more rapid rise in sea levels over the coming centuries.
Michael Müller: "The EU wants to use this scientific basis to gain support for a shared vision for international climate policy. Climate change will only be manageable if we can prevent the global temperature increasing by more than 2° Celsius compared to pre-industrial times."
Carlo Jaeger: "Global warming must stay below 2° Celsius in the long term. This requires an 80% reduction of global emissions by 2100. And this in turn requires an 80% reduction of emis-sions from developed countries by 2050. At higher levels of global warming future generations will know Hamburg, London, Los Angeles, Shanghai, and many more coastal cities only as flooded traces of a past era."
Press Contact:
European Climate Forum (ECF)
Antonella Battaglini