LowCVP Conference speaker says huge changes are needed to reduce CO2 production
Fri 16 May 2014
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Professor Jim Skea who was closely involved in the process leading to the IPCC's recent report says that hitting the two-degree 'safe' target for climate change will require "technological and institutional change on a massive scale." Prof Skea, who is also a member of the UK's Committee on Climate Change, will be speaking at the LowCVP Conference on July 15 about his work with the IPCC.
Jim Skea who was vice-chair of IPCC Working Group III, set out the CCC’s response to the third IPCC report (which looks at climate change mitigation) in an article published in The Guardian.
Professor Skea said, “The evidence is clear: sticking to business as usual will lead to temperature rises of three to five degrees above pre-industrial levels. This will potentially lead to catastrophic effects on water resources and agricultural productivity, and accelerate sea level rise.
"Hitting the two-degree target has not been ruled out, but the IPCC has concluded in its report that major changes would be needed to energy systems, requiring technological and institutional change on a massive scale."
If momentum is maintained, Prof Skea wrote, the pledges made by UN members at the Cancun Climate Convention in 2010 would probably take us to the bottom end of the three to five degree range but they would not meet the two-degree goal set by the UN and accepted as the target needed to avoid dangerous climate change.
Prof Skea says that the implications of delay are clearly stated in the report. If we postpone action until 2030, the two-degree target will be beyond our grasp unless technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are used.
Jim Skea's full article appeared on the Guardian website. He will be speaking at the LowCVP's Annual Conference on July 15.
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