IEA emissions estimates - a “stark warning” to government, says UN
Christiana Figueres, a UN climate chief, yesterday urged governments to help society, business and science to make changes to combat climate change. This is ahead of next week’s UN climate change conference in Bonn, Germany.
A senior UN climate official said the IEA estimate of record greenhouse gas emissions is a “stark warning” to governments to make rapid progress to combat climate change.
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), urged governments to help society, business and science to make changes.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) released estimates on Monday (30 May) showing that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from world energy generation reached record levels in 2010.
Ms Figueres spoke ahead of the UN climate change negotiations in Bonn next week. The conference is a staging post for the COP17 climate conference in Durban, South Africa at the end of the year, and the next round of international talks aimed at creating a binding international agreement on climate change.
Ms Figueres said: “It is clear that they need to push the world further down the right track to avoid dangerous climate change”.
Last year, 30.6 gigatonnes of CO2 were released into the atmosphere - a 1.6Gt rise from 2009. It was thought that the worldwide recession would slow down the rate of CO2 released, but strong economic growth in China and other developing countries has led to another rise.
Senior staff at the IEA say the increase means the world is moving closer to missing its 2020 targets for GHG emissions. This could mean a global temperature rise to 2ºC above pre-industrial temperatures by 2100, leading to water shortages and animal species’ extinction.
Dr. Fatih Birol, Chief Economist at the IEA, oversees the annual World Energy Outlook. He called the estimates a “wake-up call” for the international community.
“Given the shrinking room for manoeuvre in 2020, unless bold and decisive decisions are made very soon, it will be extremely challenging to succeed in achieving this global goal agreed [at COP16] in Cancun.”
Christiana Figueres sees the Bonn meeting as an opportunity to prepare for Durban and said: “This is the inconvenient truth of where human-generated greenhouse gas emissions are projected to go without much stronger international action now and into the future.”
“I won’t hear that this is impossible. Governments must make it possible for society, business and science to get this job done.”
A UN statement suggested governments have two main challenges which can be started in Bonn: The first aim is to strengthen international agreement on conditions to make deeper global emission cuts, similar to the Kyoto Protocol. The second aim is to agree on the design for climate institutions which will support progress in developing countries.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Image: Kristian S. Aas/Natur & miljø | flickr
