Emissions pledges
do not match needs
Emissions
cuts offered so far at the Copenhagen summit will lead to
global temperatures rising by an average of three degrees,
a confidential UN analysis obtained by The Guardian reveals.
Rie Jerichow - 17/12/2009 - A confidential UN draft marked
"do not distribute" and "initial draft"
shows a gap of up to 4.2 gigatonnes of carbon emissions
between the present pledges and the required level of 44
gigatonnes that is required to stay below a two degree temperature
rise, The Guardian reports.
According
to the "Stern Review" by economist Nicholas Stern
for the British government, a warming of three or four degrees
Celsius will result in tens to hundreds of millions more
people being flooded each year due to rising sea levels.
"There will be serious risks and increasing pressures
for coastal protection in Southeast Asia (Bangladesh and
Vietnam), small islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific,
and large coastal cities, such as Tokyo, New York, Cairo
and London," the report shows.
Greenpeace
describes the confidential document as "explosive"
and showing that the numbers on the table at the moment
would lead to nothing less than "climate breakdown"
and an "extraordinarily dangerous situation for humanity".
"The
UN is admitting in private that the pledges made by world
leaders would lead to a three degree rise in temperatures.
The science shows that it could lead to the collapse of
the Amazon rainforest, crippling water shortages across
South America and Australia and the near-extinction of tropical
coral reefs, and that's just the start of it," Greenpeace
campaigner Joss Garman tells the newspaper.
Da UNFCCC
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