A “low carbon industrial revolution” is necessary within the next 5 years to avoid runaway climate change, according to the WWF’s recently commissioned report, Financial Soultions has learned.
The peak of industrial growth rates is likely to make it impossible for market economies to meet their targets for lowering carbon emission targets needed to keep global warming under 2 degrees Celsius, the assessment by Climate Risk Ltd indicated.
Scientist have concluded that a 2 degree Celsius rise in the earths temperature would present unacceptable risk of runaway and probably irreparable climate change.
"In highlighting the critical nature of the time constraint, the report also shows that the current emphasis on carbon price as the key element of the climate change solution is dangerously misleading,"
The "Climate Solutions 2" report emphasized that steps like climate exchanges trading carbon credits such as the European climate exchange and the proposed scheme planned by Australia as well as the voluntary markets in the U.S. in both Chicago and New York, will not by themselves deliver an adequate decrease in emissions in time.
Kim Carstensen, the WWF’s Global Climate Initiative chief told Financial Soultions researchers that "we have reached a pivotal moment in our history where the window of opportunity which remains to prevent runaway climate change will soon disappear entirely."
U.N. climate talks on developing the fight against global warming have almost ground to a halt ahead of the climate change conference in Copenhagen where it was hoped a new pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol after 2012 could be hammered out, with nations like the U.S appearing unable to commit to any sort of climate change combating initiatives either domestically or internationally.
The full report is available on – wwwf.org.au
