15 May 2007 - Gland, Switzerland
– The world has more than enough sustainable
energy and technology to curb climate change,
but only if key decisions are made within
the next five years, according to new research
by WWF.
Climate Solutions: WWF’s vision for 2050,
a new report detailing the results of that
study, was launched by the global conservation
organization at an international press briefing
in Geneva today.
The third report this year of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, released on 4 May,
showed that the world could limit its heat-trapping
emissions with known technologies and policy
changes, but WWF’s Climate Solutions report
shows how this can be done using only sustainable,
environmentally friendly energy sources.
“The world has never been more aware of
climate change, or the urgent need to slow
its advance,” said James Leape, WWF International’s
Director General. “The question for leaders
and governments everywhere is how to rein
in dangerously high levels of carbon dioxide
emissions without stunting development and
reducing living standards.
“The Climate Solutions report shows not
only that this can be done, it shows how
we can do it. We have a small window of
time in which we can plant the seeds of
change, and that is the next five years.
We cannot afford to waste them.
“This is not something that governments
can put off until the future. Governments
in power now have a unique opportunity,
a duty, to do something big for the future
of the planet. If they fail, generations
to come will have to live with the compromises
and hardships caused by their inability
to act.”
Princeton University’s Professor Robert
Socolow, who in his work with Professor
Stephen Pacala developed the climate stabilization
wedges used in the WWF study, endorsed the
Climate Solutions report.
“The WWF study provides a much needed integration
of climate change mitigation within a comprehensive
framework of environmental stewardship,”
he said.
Jorgen Randers, who in 1972 was one of
the authors of Limits to Growth, the book
known for linking economic growth and the
state of the natural environment, also praised
the report.
“The WWF Climate Solutions report is important
first and foremost because it shows that
it can be done. The plan shows it is possible
to supply the world’s growing energy need
in a climate-friendly manner, even if we
choose to limit ourselves to existing and
environmentally acceptable technologies,”
said Professor Randers, who is also Chairman
of WWF-Norway.
Climate Solutions is the report of WWF’s
Energy Taskforce which was set up in December
2005. More than 100 scientists and experts
contributed their knowledge.
The taskforce set out to answer the question:
“Is it technically possible to meet the
growing global demand for energy, using
clean and sustainable energy sources and
technologies that will protect the global
climate?”
It began by reviewing 25 different commercially
available sustainable energy sources or
technologies and ranking them. From this
process, three groupings emerged: those
technologies with clear benefits, those
with some negative but mostly positive impacts,
and those where the negatives clearly outweighed
the positives.
Those technologies found to have more benefits
than negative impacts were then run through
the newly designed WWF Climate Solutions
model.
The findings were clear and had a note
of hope: the model showed, with a high degree
of probability (i.e. greater than 90 per
cent), that known energy sources and proven
technologies could be harnessed between
now and 2050 to meet a projected doubling
in global demand for energy while at the
same time achieving the necessary significant
drop (about 60-80 per cent) in carbon dioxide
emissions to prevent dangerous climate change.
The model shows for the first time that
this is technically and industrially feasible.
It also shows that measures must be taken
within five years to bring about a reduction
in global carbon dioxide emissions within
the next ten years.
The report identifies six key solutions
to the problem of meeting global energy
demand without damaging the global climate:
• Improving energy efficiency.
• Stopping forest loss.
• Accelerating the development of low-emissions
technologies.
• Developing flexible fuels.
• Replacing high-carbon coal with low-carbon
gas.
• Equipping fossil-fuel plants with carbon
capture and storage technology.
Moira O’Brien-Malone, Head of Press
WWF International
Brian Thomson, Press Officer
WWF International
