UN Climate Change panel calls for phasing out fossil fuels

Emissions may need to drop to zero by the end of this century for the world to have a decent chance of keeping the temperature rise below a level that many consider dangerous.

In this file photo, steam and smoke rise from a coal-burning power plant in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Climate change is happening, it’s almost entirely man’s fault and limiting its impacts may require reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero this century, the U.N.’s panel on climate science said on Sunday.

Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) R. K. Pachauri on Sunday launching the Panel’s Synthesis Report in Copenhagen, said, “There is no room for complacency.” He suggested that India’s National action plan on climate change needs to be revisited in the light of this report. If the rise in global temperatures has to be kept under 2 degrees Celsius, fossil fuels would have to be phased out by the end of this century, he added.

“The Report tells us that we need to tackle climate change with a combination of adaptation and mitigation,” he said.

Navroz K Dubash, one of the lead authors of the Synthesis Report, said, “The IPCC Synthesis Report suggests a way of thinking about climate change that is deeply relevant to India. There is a complex two way relationship between sustainable development and climate change: climate policies should support, not undermine sustainable development; but limiting the effects of climate change is necessary to achieve sustainable development. This suggests India has to increasingly internalize climate considerations into development planning.”

Dr Purnamita Dasgupta, coordinating lead author of the IPCC’s working group report two, said that there are observed impacts of climate change, for example in India there is decline in agricultural productivity. There is scientific consensus that warming is unprecedented and it will have irreversible impacts on lives across the globe.

Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, which co-sponsors the IPCC along with the UN Environment Programme said in a statement, “Urgent action is needed to cut global greenhouse gas emissions. The longer we wait, the more expensive and difficult it will be to adapt – to the point where some impacts will be irreversible and impossible to cope with,” he added.