IPCC-chairman to politicians: Respond to worst-case scenarios

Head of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change urges politicians to respond to new scientific climate research.

Rie Jerichow 12/03/2009 10:55

New research showing that rising sea levels are likely to be far worse than official UN projections should get politicians to act, says Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr Rajendra K Pachauri.

"They should certainly respond to a worst-case scenario - even if there is only a small risk that it becomes reality - because it will have terrible consequences. It is quite common risk management," he says in an interview with the Danish newspaper Politiken.

He also questions the sufficiency of the EU objective to keep the global average temperature increase below 2°C.

"I very much doubt the two-degree target. Even a two-degree rise could cause sea level rise up to 1.4 meters. Even one meter would be quite terrible to many areas of the world," he tells the newspaper. Yet Pachauri is not pessimistic.

"When politicians can raise money to support the businesses that are causing the economic crisis, they should certainly be able to find money to address climate change and secure the world for future generations," says Pachauri, adding:

"Moreover, the financial crisis might turn out to help the environment, not harm it - as Denmark has also pointed out. Due to the crisis, many countries have realized that they have to reduce their dependency on oil and other fossil fuels – also for security reasons. And they have to create jobs in green sectors, because they are economically sustainable in the long run. That is also what U.S. President, Obama, calls for." (Photo: Scanpix/Reuters)

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