03 Oct
2006 - A major review on the economics of climate
change for the UK government must highlight the
need to stabilize carbon dioxide emissions and
prevent global temperatures rising above 2 degrees°C,
WWF said today. The main conclusions of the Stern
Review will be outlined at a meeting of G8 environment
Ministers at Monterrey in Mexico today.
The review by Sir Nicholas Stern,
which will report to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown,
is expected to confirm that tackling climate change
is not just an environmental issue but an economic
and social imperative. It is expected to highlight
the need for concerted global action to cut emissions
of heat trapping gases and for an agreement on
a goal to stabilise the world's climate. WWF welcomes
the report's findings, but stresses the vital
importance of keeping the rise in average global
temperatures below 2 degrees°C - a goal which
is already supported by the EU and the UK Government.
WWF has released a paper today
(attached) which compares the impacts of a rise
in global average temperature (above pre-industrial
levels) of 2 and 3 degrees°C. At 2 degrees°C
there would be a 60 per cent loss of summer sea
ice in the Arctic and at 3 degrees °C there
would be a near complete loss of summer sea ice
and potential extinction of ice-dependent species
such as polar bears. Whilst 25-50 million people
would be at risk due to sea level rise with a
2 degrees °C increase, 180 million people
would be at risk of coastal flooding, causing
hundred and thousands to have to migrate to other
areas under a 3 degrees°C rise.
Keith Allott, Head of Climate
Change at WWF-UK, said: "Climate change has
never simply been an environmental issue. The
fact that the government is now recognising the
profound economic implications of this huge global
problem proves that the environment must be at
the centre of all political thinking from now
on."
Sir Nicholas Stern's full report
into the economic challenges of climate change
and how they can be met, both in the UK and globally,
is expected to be published later in October.
Today he will outline his main conclusions to
a meeting of the G8 plus five developing countries
in Mexico, part of the "Gleneagles Dialogue"
process set up under the UK's Presidency of the
G8 last year.
"The Stern review will
set out the overwhelming economic imperative for
tackling climate change," said Hans Verolme,
Director of WWF's Global Climate Change Programme.
"The political will must match this with
policies to keep the rise in global average temperatures
below 2 degrees°C. Even at 2°C, the world
is facing extremely serious impacts. Above that
level we are spinning out of control - where impacts
escalate rapidly and we run an unacceptable risk
of catastrophic climate change."
Alison Sutton
