'Consensus reached' on climate change
Thursday, 05 Oct 2006 15:52
Consensus on how to reduce emissions has yet to be made
Science In Focus
We take a look at the highs and lows of the past five decades of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). Full Story
Britain's chief scientific advisor, Sir David King, has hailed the progress made in attitudes towards tackling climate change following a two-day climate summit in Mexico.
Ministers from the world's 20 most polluting countries met in Monterrey this week for the second set of talks for the Dialogue on Clean Energy, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, which was established at the G8 summit in Gleneagles last year.
Sir David told the Today programme that the nations involved have been able to come to a consensus that the problem of climate change exists and must be tackled.
"I have to say the conclusion among all the countries is that the basic science is no longer disputed, the science of climate change is accepted by all the nations that were present," he said.
Commenting on how Sir Michael Stern's presentation of Britain's review of climate change was received, Sir David said: "I think that went down exceptionally well. I didn't hear one comment of scepticism about his report."
However he added that there is still a "massive challenge" ahead and an agreement on how to meet future energy demands while cutting emissions was not achieved at the Mexico summit.
The summit's conclusions will form the basis of formal United Nations talks on climate change to be held next month in Nairobi.