Originally posted @ 10:57 pm, Tue 7th Oct 2008
The Committee on Climate Change are recommending 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The reasons for the change in the target are -
greater knowledge of how rising temperatures will reduce the effectiveness of carbon sinks (e.g. methane trapped under the ocean floor);
better knowledge of the warming effects of gases other than CO2;
the reduction in the summer Arctic sea ice, and the summer melt of the Greenland ice, has been greater than previously predicted;
atmospheric pollution has probably masked some of the greenhouse gas warming that would have occurred; and progress is being made to improve air quality;
greater understanding of the range of potential climate change impacts, their regional variation and the possibility of abrupt or irreversible changes, suggesting greater damages once temperature increases become significant;
latest global emission trends are higher because of higher economic growth and a shift towards more carbon intensive sources of energy.
The Prime Minister said in his party conference speech –
"And I am asking the climate change committee to report ... on the case for, by 2050 not a 60% reduction in our carbon emissions, but an 80% cut - and I want British companies and British workers to seize the opportunity and lead the world in the transformation to a low carbon economy and I believe that we can create in modern green manufacturing and service one million new jobs."
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