Governments can still avoid the worst consequences of climate change if they choose to cut emissions of greenhouse gases at a high rate as soon as possible, a panel suggests.
The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Sunday stressed that reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of major institutional and technological industries will greatly contribute to the prevention of the worst consequences of climate change.
Scientists emphasized that even a two-degree temperature increase can be alarming because it may lead to unacceptably high-impact changes. If the emissions are greatly reduced, the temperature rise will go beyond the preindustrial level by only about 1- 2.2 degrees Celsius by the middle of this century compared to the 2-2.3 degrees Celsius projected temperature if carbon emissions are not mitigated.
The IPCC surmised that to be able to go no further beyond the two degree-mark, greenhouse-gas emissions must be reduced by 40 to 70 percent by 2050. Furthermore, it has to be close to zero before the century ends. To achieve such rate, the U.N. panel suggests, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal during the conference in Berlin that, "only major institutional and technological change will give a better that even chance that global warming will not exceed this threshold."
Aside from that, the IPCC also suggested setting up carbon-pricing institutions, promoting CO2 taxes and ramping up investment in renewable energy.
"Policy makers are being given a range of options and they can make whatever decisions they want," said Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the University of Reading, England, and an author of a previous IPCC report, to WSJ.
The IPCC appealed to the governments to unite and take immediate actions to mitigate climate change. IPCC co-chair Ottmar Edenhofer argued that the the governments delayed actions on their recommendations are because they "advance their own interests independently." However, he clarified that the governments will not need to sacrifice growth as there are ways to mitigate carbon emissions on a minimal cost.
