Climate Plan Arms World for Key Talks (post IPCC)

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2007/may/04/050405236.html

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Delegates hailed this latest assessment, the first by IPCC since 2001, as setting the stage for a strong international agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, with its relatively weak mandated emissions cuts, when it expires in 2012.

"Clearly, the signs that the IPCC assessed will have a direct and profound influence on the discussions that take place and the direction toward (a post-Kyoto) agreement," said the IPCC chairman, climatologist Rajendra Pachauri.

The assessment offers a range of emissions scenarios showing temperatures rising as much as 9.7 degrees Fahrenheit. Under the most stringent scenario, capping concentrations at 445 ppm, the experts projected an economic loss of under 3 percent of global gross domestic product by 2030, that is, spread over 23 years.

The report acknowledges this is an improbable scenario, requiring all nations to deploy the best available technologies. And the U.S and Chinese delegations here complained that attempting to meet the stringent target would be too economically damaging.

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