LONDON (Reuters) - "The world faces a surge in extreme weather events because of global warming and governments must act immediately to avert disaster, Britain's chief scientist said on Tuesday. "Already we are witnessing increased storms at sea and floods in our cities," David King said. "Global warming will increase the level and frequency at which we experience heightened weather patterns.
"Action is affordable. Inaction is not," he told the third Greenpeace Business Lecture in central London. King said levels of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, were at their highest ever and rising due primarily to the burning of fossil fuels at an unprecedented rate.
His comments came a day after scientists at Britain's Hadley Center revealed that CO2 levels in the atmosphere had risen in the past two years, prompting fears that catastrophic climate change could be out of control. However, although the CO2 spike had been registered across the world, scientists cautioned that it was too early to tell if it was an anomaly or if climate change had entered a new, explosive phase. "CO2 levels are up about two ppm (parts per million) in the past two years -- but it would be pushing it to say that it could be the start of runaway global warming," Kim Holmen at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research said.
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The Kyoto treaty on cutting CO2 emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 is expected to come into force within months with crucial Russian backing after the United States refusal to endorse the treaty in 2001 led to years of delays. But scientists are divided on the treaty's efficacy and environmentalists say it is far too little, too late."
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