New Ipcc Report

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New Ipcc Report Shows How To Cut Greenhouse Gases
UNEP/WMO News Release

Geneva/Nairobi, 5 March 2001 - Leading climate change experts and officials
from some 100 governments meeting in Accra, Ghana have finalized a major
report assessing effective policies and technologies for tackling greenhouse
gas emissions and the threat of human-induced climate change.

Today's report by Working Group III of the WMO/UNEP Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms that many cost-effective solutions to
rising greenhouse gas emissions are available today. In many cases, however,
governments will need to address various institutional, behavioral and other
barriers before these solutions can realize their potential.

Professor G.O.P Obasi, Secretary-General of WMO, which together with UNEP
launched IPCC in 1988, said that "the Third Assessment Report - the first
major assessment of climate change since 1995 - represents a remarkable
consensus and a sound basis for international decision-making." Prof. Obasi
called upon the world's governments to consider rapidly a legislative
framework for effective implementation of the many available cost-effective
solutions to the greenhouse emissions problem.

The rigorous and inclusive process of compiling the Third Assessment
involved hundreds of writers and hundreds of reviewers. In Accra, officials
from some 100 governments have taken ownership of the findings by finalizing
a Summary for Policymakers. The underlying report, however, remains the full
responsibility of the scientists, who also confirm that the Summary is
consistent with their report.

Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme
said "this report moves us from a focus on the problem to a focus on the
solution. The good news is that there are cost-effective policies and
technologies available for cutting emissions. The bad news is that there are
many barriers to rolling these out. We must figure out how to break down
these barriers."

A report released in January by the IPCC's Working Group I confirmed the new
and stronger evidence for humanity's influence on the global climate. It
also projected that globally averaged temperature of the air above the
earth's surface would rise by 1.4-5.8 degrees Celsius over the next 100
years.

Last month, the IPCC's Working Group II completed its analysis of how the
warming would effect natural and human communities around the world and
detailed expected changes in weather patterns, water resources, the seasonal
cycle, ecosystems and extreme climate events.

According to the Working Group III Summary for Policymakers, the choice of
energy mix and associated investment will determine whether atmospheric
concentrations of greenhouse gases can be stabilized, and if so at what
level and cost. Currently most such investment is directed towards
discovering and developing more fossil resources, including both
conventional and unconventional.

But the Summary also concludes that the progress since 1995 on developing
technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been faster than
anticipated. Important advances have included the market introduction of
efficient hybrid engine cars and wind turbines, the demonstration of
underground carbon dioxide storage, the advance of fuel cell technology and
the rapid elimination of industrial gases such as N20 emissions from adipic
acid production and perfluorcarbons from aluminum production.

While a change in energy supply will play a central role, hundreds of
technologies and practices for end-use energy efficiency in buildings,
transport and manufacturing industry account for more than half of the
potential for global emissions reductions from 2010 to 2020. Some studies
also show that half of this potential can be realized through options that
actually save money - known as no regrets options. However, governments will
need to adopt more supportive policies if this potential is to be realized.

The report further concludes that the costs to industrialized countries of
achieving their Kyoto Protocol targets without the benefit of an
international emissions trading system would be 0.2 - 2.0% of projected GDP
in 2010. With full emissions trading amongst these countries, the cost would
decline to 0.1 - 1.1%. If reduced air pollution and other ancillary benefits
are included, as well as the removal of market imperfections and other
factors, the costs can be reduced even further.

Note to journalists: For more information, please contact UNEP Spokesman
Tore Brevik at +254-2-623292 or tore.brevik@unep.org, or WMO Spokesman
Taysir Al-Ghanem at +41-22-730-8315 or Al-ghanem_t@gateway.wmo.ch. See also
www.ipcc.ch for the Summary and other documents, www.grida.no for useful and
downloadable reports and graphs, www.unfccc.int for official documents about
the climate talks, and www.wmo.ch and
www.unep.ch/conventions/info/infoindex.htm for additional background
information.
UNEP News Release 01/32