U.N. Climate Change Report Says Worst Scenarios Can Still Be Avoided

Emissions Rose Quicker Between 2000 and 2010 Than Previous Three Decades, Says Report

By Gautam Naik, WSJ
April 13, 2014 5:02 a.m. ET

A United Nations report suggests that governments can still avert the more serious consequences of climate change provided they act quickly and aggressively to cut the accelerating pace of greenhouse-gas emissions.

According to the report, global greenhouse-gas emissions have risen more rapidly between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous decades. The global economic crisis of 2007 and 2008 temporarily reduced emissions but didn't change the trend, the report says.

The report is of major interest to policy makers because it focuses on various scenarios for mitigating global warming. Presented on Sunday in Berlin, it is the third installment in a comprehensive four-part report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Various studies show that the earth has already warmed by about 0.8 degree Celsius since 1900. In 2010, about 200 governments agreed to reduce emissions to ensure that global temperatures didn't rise by more than two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

(More here.)