A major climate meeting opened yesterday in the Thai capital with delegates debating how to rein in rising greenhouse gas emissions that could threaten hundreds of millions with hunger and disease in the coming decades.
For the rest of this week, hundreds of scientist and diplomats attending the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting will work to finalize a report detailing a range of technological options to mitigate rising levels of carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping gases.
"The time to act is now," said Chartree Chueyprasit, deputy secretary in Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
PHOTO: EPA
"Global warming has increasingly become a hot [issue] which requires harmonized cooperation between all nations," he said. "The IPCC has realized the scientific knowledge to provide the necessary solutions."
The draft report, which will be amended following comments from dozens of governments, says emissions can be cut below current levels if the world shifts away from carbon-heavy fuels like coal, invests in energy efficiency and reforms the agriculture sector.
"The science certainly provides a lot of compelling reasons for action," said Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the climate change panel. "But what action and when is what the government will have to decide."
Two previous IPCC reports this year painted a dire picture of a future in which unabated greenhouse gas emissions could drive global temperatures up as much as 6oC by 2100. Even a 2oC rise could subject up to 2 billion people to water shortages by 2050 and threaten extinction for 20 percent to 30 percent of the world's species, the IPCC said.
Scientists have said that global warming could increase the number of hungry in the world in 2080 by between 140 million and 1 billion by contributing to widespread flooding and droughts. Diseases like malaria, diarrhea and dengue fever could spread as temperatures rise and weather becomes increasingly erratic, affecting the poorest of the world's poor.
The third report stresses that the world must quickly embrace a basket of technological options -- already available and being developed -- just to keep the temperature rise to 2oC.
Making buildings more energy-efficient, especially in the developing world, through better insulation, lighting and other steps, could also lead to significant cuts as would converting from coal to natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy such as wind.
Less significant but also important would be steps to make motor vehicles more fuel-efficient, reduce deforestation and plant more trees as a carbon "sink," absorbing carbon dioxide. Even capturing methane emitted by livestock and its manure would help, the draft report says.
Over the next century, it says, such technology as hydrogen-powered fuel cells, advanced hybrid and electric vehicles, and carbon sequestration -- whereby carbon emissions are stored underground -- will become more commercially feasible.
"The most important thing is to improve energy efficiency," said Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, a member of the Belgian delegation on the sidelines of the conference.
"There is a lot of energy wasted everywhere in the world," he said. "In the long-term we won't have fossil fuels anymore. We have to improve the way we use renewable energy."
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese