Bert Metz, co-chairman of IPCC Working Group III, displays a meeting report during a press conference at the U.N. building in Bangkok on Friday.

Credit: AFP

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BANGKOK: Greenhouse gas emissions can be slowed, at reasonable cost, say U.N. experts. But they warn that time is of the essence to ward off the most destructive effects of climate change.

After two grim warnings earlier this year on climate impacts, they were unusually upbeat in assessing ways to protect the Earth, but said that national leaders have no time to waste.

The report delivered by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which met in Bangkok last week, said humans could slow global warming with existing, affordable technology.

"We believe that human beings are capable of reducing the problems that we may get on climate change," said Ogunlade Davidson, IPCC expert and co-chair of the meeting. "The only difficulty is to getting the political will."

Reasons for optimism

The report, following the Bangkok meeting, was the IPCC's third this year. The first, released in Paris in February, found it highly likely that global temperatures would rise by 1.8°C to 4.0°C over the next century. However, it also warned that temperatures could even climb by 6.4°C. A second report in Brussels in April highlighted the catastrophic damage that global warming could cause, including the extinction of up to 30 per cent of animal and plant life.

The first two reports offered little good news, but this one is different, said Davidson. "The third assessment says there are possible solutions and you can do it at a reasonable cost."

The options laid out covered simple measures like switching to energy efficient light bulbs and adjusting the thermostat in the office. But they also included extremely controversial and complex techniques such as nuclear power, and the storing of carbon dioxide underground.

Renewable energies, such as wind, solar and biofuel, were highlighted as an important part of the mix, while the experts said putting a higher price on using the fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases was important.

The 400 delegates, from 120 countries, who met last week in Bangkok were tasked with drafting a summary of their extensive research to guide policymakers in deciding how to tackle climate change.

"No excuse"

Stephan Singer, European head of climate and energy with the World Wildlife Fund, said the report showed "for the first time that stopping climate pollution in a very ambitious way does not cost a fortune."

"There is no excuse for any government to argue that it is going to cause their economy to collapse," he said, adding that political leaders needed to be pressed to take action now.

According to the report, taking measures to stop global temperatures from rising more than about 2.0°C would shave only around 0.12 percentage points off annual global economic growth in the coming decades.

Greenpeace said the report demanded a "serious political response" from world leaders.

Climate change is expected to be among the top priorities on the agenda when leaders of the world's most industrialised countries meet at the Group of Eight Summit in Germany in June.

European nations hope the United States and rapidly developing countries like Brazil, India and China – which did not join the existing Kyoto Protocol on climate change – will agree to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases under a new accord.