Papkuilsfontein - reducing carbon footprint
Lack of action on climate change will have the unfortunate consequence of making it impossible "to avoid the worst consequences of climate change" according to top U.S. climate scientists.
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), who interviewed the scientists, claimed that it was essential that the U.S. agree to a cap on global warming emmissions.
According to the UCS report the prospects for federal action on climate change are uncertain, and that a proposed energy bill which has left out the desired cap on carbon emmissions would fail to ensure the necessary reductions in emmissions in time.
UCS also refers to a statement by Richard Somerville - a research professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography - that "...policymakers must understand that unlike a steel tariff, action on climate change is not something that can be postponed a year. The longer we delay in reducing our emissions, the higher the global temperature increase we lock in."
According to UCS scientists have concluded that cuts of at least 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050 are required to ensure that global temperatures are not locked in too high.
In the report Rachel Cleetus, an economist at UCS states that "...economists agree that a carbon price is a critical, cost-effective way for the United States to reduce its emissions and transition to a clean energy economy. A strong cap would encourage investments in clean energy sources and energy efficiency and help ensure that U.S. companies capture a share of the growing global market in clean technologies. Green is the new red, white and blue."
The UCS report points out that there is growing realization that, far from hampering growth, a cap on emmissions could stimulate a carbon market and a new clean energy economy, and open up new industries and job opportunities, even at a local level.
At the same time the huge expected costs of unchecked climate change could be minimized by reducing emissions timeously.
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