Climate change 'at point of no return': Ban

AFP Yahoo News 16 Oct 18;

The Hague (AFP) - Former UN chief Ban Ki-Moon warned Tuesday the world is at the "point of no return" on climate change as he launched an international commission on responses to global warming.

The Global Commission on Adaptation is endorsed by 17 countries including major economic powers China, Germany and India and will look at ways the world -- especially poor nations -- can shield themselves against the impact of rising temperatures.

"We are at the point of no return," Ban told an audience at the commission's launch in The Hague, where the Netherlands hosted its 28 commissioners.


Ban's remarks followed the release of a landmark United Nations report earlier this month that warned of global warming-triggered chaos unless dramatic action is taken.

The world must choose from two paths: one that could lead to a "more climate resilient future," said Ban, the United Nations secretary general from 2007 to 2016.

"Or we can continue with the status quo, putting at risk global economic growth and social stability that will undermine our food and water security... for decades to come," he said.

The commission is co-led by US billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates and the World Bank's Kristalina Georgieva.

On current trends, Earth is on track to warm up an unlivable three or four degrees Celsius (5.4 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels, far about the 1.5 C climate-safe threshold endorsed last week by the UN in its climate change assessment.

- Paris pact withdrawal -

International efforts to create a united front to tackle global warming have been hit by the US withdrawal from the Paris climate pact, with US President Donald Trump again on Monday questioning climate change.

The commission will look at measures countries can take to defend themselves against the effects of climate change, such as rising water levels and prolonged droughts.

Dutch knowledge of working with water will form part of the commission's recommended actions, which will be presented at the UN's climate summit in September next year.

"For the Netherlands, looking for solutions to water issues is part of everyday life," Dutch Infrastructure and Water Management Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen said before the commission's launch.

"But experience has taught us that prevention is better than cure," she said.

Storm surges and tidal cycles caused record sea levels along the Dutch coastline last year and are closely watched in a country where much of the land lies below sea level.

The Netherlands is protected from flooding by a series of defences such as dykes, sand dunes, windmills to pump away water and sophisticated barrages.


'Bad news': CO2 emissions to rise in 2018, says IEA chief
Catherine HOURS, Marlowe HOOD, AFP Yahoo News 16 Oct 18;

Paris (AFP) - Energy sector carbon emissions will rise in 2018 after hitting record levels the year before, dimming prospects for meeting Paris climate treaty goals, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Wednesday.

The energy sector accounts for 80 percent of global CO2 emissions, with most of the rest caused by deforestation and agriculture, so its performance is key to efforts to rein in rising world temperatures.

"I'm sorry, I have very bad news for you," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told guests at a diplomatic function hosted by the Polish embassy in Paris.

"Emissions this year will increase once again, and we're going to have the COP meeting when global emissions reach a record high," he said, referring to the December UN climate summit in Katowice, Poland.

After remaining flat for three years, total global CO2 emissions in 2017 rose by 1.4 percent, dashing hopes that they had peaked.

The meeting in Katowice is tasked with finalising the "operating manual" for the 195-nation Paris Agreement, which enters into force in 2020 and calls for capping global warming at "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and at 1.5 C if possible.

"The chances of meeting such ambitious targets, in my view, are becoming weaker and weaker every year, every month," Birol told invitees, including former French prime minister Laurent Fabius, who shepherded the 2015 treaty to a successful conclusion, and Poland's junior minister Michal Kurtyka, who will preside over the December summit.

With one degree Celsius of warming so far, Earth has seen a crescendo of deadly extreme weather, including heatwaves, droughts, floods and deadly storm surges made worse by rising seas.

- Next two years critical -

Even taking into account voluntary national pledges to slash carbon emissions caused by burning fossil fuels, the planet is currently on track to warm by an unlivable 3 C to 4 C by century's end.

A major UN report released earlier this month said that capping average global temperatures at 1.5 C above preindustrial levels would prevent the worst ravages of climate change.

But reaching that goal would mean reducing CO2 emissions by nearly half compared to 2010 levels within a dozen years, and becoming "carbon neutral" -- with no excess C02 leaching into the atmosphere -- by 2050.

The UN report also details humanity's "carbon budget" -- the amount of CO2 we can emit and still stay under the 1.5 C ceiling.

At current rates of carbon pollution, that budget would be used up within two decades.

Fabius, who said he had accepted an invitation to help Poland prepare for the December climate summit, insisted that the next two years are critical.

"Climate change is a near-term problem," he said. "When you look at the tragic consequences, it is today, not in 50 years."

"This is not a negotiation like any other," he added. "If you fail, you cannot start over again."