Energy apocalypse 'five years away'
Global warming and other climate change effects can still be reversed, WWF says
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Tuesday, 15, May 2007 11:18
Energy shortages and rising carbon emissions mean the world is only five years away from a "climate-change disaster".
But conservation charity WWF says the catastrophe can be avoided if national governments make the right decisions in developing sustainable energy sources.
Today's report - Vision for 2050: Climate Solutions - goes further than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's recent conclusion by stating that better use of new technologies limiting carbon emissions could reduce the worst impacts of climate change.
WWF notes that the necessary cuts in global greenhouse emissions can be achieved "without resorting to the nuclear option", a view not expected to be expressed in the government's forthcoming energy white paper.
"The world has never been more aware of climate change, or the urgent need to slow its advance," James Leape, WWF International's director general, said.
"The question for leaders and governments everywhere is how to rein in dangerously high levels of carbon dioxide emissions without stunting development and reducing living standards."
WWF arrived at its five-year deadline for sustainable technologies to be developed by reviewing 25 separate commercially-available energy sources and processing them through its climate solutions model.
It found that there is a 90 per cent chance that known energy sources and proven technologies could be harnessed between now and 2050; meeting the predicted doubling of global demand for energy while also cutting carbon dioxide emissions by between 60 and 80 per cent.
Commenting on today's report, Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Chris Huhne said that Britain and other national governments "still have just enough time to tackle the causes of climate change".
"The fall in green taxes must be reversed if Britain is to play its part in reducing global emissions," he claimed.
"Nuclear power is a tried, tested and failed technology, which is clearly a costly blind alley."