IPCC Bangkok 2007

Updates

Friday, 4 May

PRESS STATEMENT

Nothing should keep governments from getting to work and stopping dangerous climate change, says WWF after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its report on options for reducing CO₂ emissions.

The IPCC report clearly shows that it is possible to stop global warming if the world’s emissions start to decline before 2015. To keep our climate safe, 50 to 85 per cent of CO₂ emissions will have to be cut by the middle of this century, according to the report's summary for policy makers.

"The IPCC has delivered a road map for keeping the planet safe, now it’s the turn of politicians to do more than pay just lip service," says Hans Verolme, Director of WWF's Climate Change Programme. "We can stop climate change before it is too late.”

The IPCC report demonstrates that we can easily afford to stop climate change. Global warming can be contained at a cost of just 0.1 per cent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product per year. In contrast, doing nothing costs up to 20 times more according to the most recent science – and human suffering would be greater than purely monetary indicators show.

“It’s all there already, existing clean technologies only need to be elevated from niche to mainstream,” says Dr Stephan Singer, head of WWF’s European Climate and Energy Programme.

“Too much time has been wasted already. This report shows nothing needs to hold us back from taking the simple steps to safeguard the world’s economy and environment from climate chaos.”

The IPCC has shown clearly that to avoid catastrophic climate change we can keep global warming below a 2°C rise of global average annual temperature. The first IPCC working group showed that the world is already committed to an increase of at least 1.3°C.

“Special responsibility lies with the richest nations that will meet at the G8 Summit in a month’s time,” adds Verolme. “There’s no excuse for the world’s leading economies to sit back and relax. They need to get on with it and work harder to cut emissions and implement the widely available clean and efficient energy solutions.”

PRESS CONFERENCE PODCAST

WWFs' Dr Stephan Singer talks about the conservation organization's latest briefing and how it shows individuals, business and governments to reduce their CO2 emissions.

Download MP3

IPCC PODCAST

Tune-in and download our podcast on the IPCC meeting, reviewing where we are after the Working Group II meeting in Brussels with WWF's Chief Science Officer, Dr Lara Hansen, and where we're going with the Working Group III meeting in Bangkok, with the Director of WWF's Global Climate Change Programme, Hans Verolme.

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About

Background:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to assess the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change.

The IPCC has so far issued two of three working group reports of its Fourth Assessment Report. On February 2, it released a report on the underlying science of climate change in Paris. On April 6, its second report looked at the consequences for ecological systems, socio-economic sectors and human health.

It has been six years since the last assessment report and according to the IPCC’s Working Group I and II, people are the primarily responsible for the build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which causes global climate change.

The report of Working Group III, to be released in Bangkok on 4 May 2007, will look at measures to reduce emissions and ways the world can adapt to stave off the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

Key Issues:

• The world must cut emissions by 50-85 per cent by the middle of this century. “The technologies and measures necessary to combat climate change exist already - all we need is the courage and vision of the political decision-makers to give those technologies preferential treatment,” says Dr Stephan Singer, Head of WWF’s European Climate Change Programme and expert revie
  wer of the report by IPCC Working Group III. “What the world needs is a global ‘climate and energy security plan’ - the negotiations in Bangkok will show if our political leaders are up to this task.”
  
• Costs for new energy sources will be at the core of the negotiations in Bangkok. “While the cost for developing new energy sources may seem high, clean energy is often competitive, especially when we take into account the cost of damage caused by climate change,” says Hans Verolme, Director of WWF’s Global Climate Change Programme. “Switching the world to clean energy presents huge opportunities for people and business – doing nothing will leave the world impoverished.”
   
• A strong message must come from the IPCC report in Bangkok. ”Government delegates in Bangkok must not give in to political pressure and weaken the IPCC report,” says Hans Verolme, Director of WWF’s Global Climate Change Programme. “The scientists must be allowed to present the full set of political, technological, and economic options, and governments should start making the necessary emissions cuts now."

Media Events/Activities: 

• Daily Media Statement, 09:00 Monday 30 April through Wednesday 2 May. 
  
•  International Press Release – Stop Climate Climate Change: It Is Possible embargo 1130 local time (0430GMT) Thursday 3 May.
  
• Press Briefing Stop Climate Change: It Is Possible 1030-1130 local time (0330-0430GMT) Thursday 3 May with WWF’s Dr Stephan Singer and Hans Verolme.
  
• Closing Statement Friday 4 May. WWF spokespeople available.

Materials for the Media:

Spokespeople:

Hans Verolme, Director, WWF’s Global Climate Change Programme.

Stephan Singer, Head of WWF’s Climate Change Policy Unit.