For Immediate Release February 2, 2007 |
Contact: J. Drake Hamilton, Science Policy Director New global warming report confirms urgency of problem St. Paul...Today the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report stating a new degree of the scientific certainty that global warming is happening now and is mostly human-caused. The report highlights how an increase in global temperatures is already impacting climate worldwide and will have far reaching effects on sea levels, ice cover at the poles and extreme weather by the end of the century. Today’s report is the fourth IPCC report since 1990 on the science of global warming. With each report, the scientists involved have concluded that the certainty of a human effect on global climate has increased, while the likelihood of other factors playing a predominant role in observed warming has decreased. "IPCC reports are the "gold standard" of what the world's scientists know about global warming," said J. Drake Hamilton, Science Policy Director of Fresh Energy, the Upper Midwest's leading energy policy organization. "We Americans should note that each report of the IPCC emphasizes the urgency of the problem." "The Physical Science Basis," released today in Paris, is the first of four reports to be released this year. As a synthesis of peer-reviewed studies, IPCC reports are seen as the so-called gold standard of what the world’s scientists currently know about climate change. Scientific findings published since December 2005 are not included in this fourth assessment, resulting in a conservative statement of projected impacts. “The work of this report confirms what we have been seeing for years,” said Hamilton. “From Arctic towns being moved because of coastal erosion resulting from thawing permafrost to the tropics where low-lying island residents have been forced to abandon their homes and heritage, global warming is upon us and Congress must act now.” Overall, the IPPC report will include more than 2,000 scientists appointed by the more than 130 countries. The first working group reflects the collaboration of more than 150 authors and 600 reviewers who incorporated thousands of comments from expert reviewers. The second report, "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability," will be released in early April 2007. - end - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fresh Energy is a nonprofit organization leading the transition to a clean energy system. One that supports the health of our economies, our people, and our environment while moving us toward energy independence. www.fresh-energy.org |