European Greens respond to the IPCC’s final and most powerful report: Political leaders have all the information they need and no excuses left: Now they must act!
The European Green Party has responded to the final report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was published in Valencia,Spain today. The EGP Spokespersons say that this final report is the most powerful report that the IPCC has produced and clearly shows the "abrupt and irreversible" consequences that the world faces if political leaders do not take decisive action now.
EGP Co-Spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek said: "This final synthesis report of the IPCC, in which they have summed up and clarified the significance of the huge amount of data contained in their three previous reports, could not be clearer in its message to the world's leaders: climate change is real and is caused by human activity; its effects will be disastrous and irreversible; its worst impacts can be averted by specific changes in policy. It is now up to politicians and governments to heed the science and quickly take the policy decisions that will be necessary if the worst effects of climate change are to be avoided. The report also shows clearly that that the technical solutions are all there: they just need to be implemented. We applaud the scientists of the IPCC for resisting pressure from powerful governments, in particular the United States, China and India, to water down their report. These countries must now fully commit to the global process seeking to reach a binding agreement on how to combat climate change."
EGP Co-Spokesperson Philippe Lamberts continued: "This report is of crucial significance because it is the IPCC's last word before world leaders meet in Bali, Indonesia from December 3rd to 14th to discuss a global climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.The urgency of the science must drive the decisions which are taken at that meeting and today's report is central to that. The IPCC have warned us that governments only have a decade at most to act. That is why we European Greens, as part of the Global Greens, will be making specific recommendations to the Bali conference. One of our key concerns is that nuclear power, which is extremely dangerous in many ways, must not be seen as having a role to play in the fight against climate change as it is simply not a clean source of energy. Greens throughout Europe and indeed all over the world will also be participating in the Global Day of Climate Action on December 8th."
