The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), ten of the world’s leading research universities, and the University of Copenhagen, organized a conference that took place in Copenhagen this week. The scientists, economists, journalists and others gathered heard some startling news in a series of updates on the science of climate change. The IPCC issued its Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 – and shared the Nobel Peace Prize for its heroic work. The conference was titled “Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions” and it served to update us on the science that was in the pipeline and completed after the IPCC report. This video, with Conference Chair Katherine Richardson, explains the scope of the conference.
Olive Heffernan, editor of “Nature Reports: Climate Change” and its sister blog, Climate Feedback, reports here from Copenhagen. “The latest results made for bleak listening at times,” she writes. One key researcher, Stefan Rahmstorf, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said: “Some aspects of climate are changing more rapidly than we thought even a few years ago. It is thus critical to review the scientific data in Copenhagen before COP15.” Rahmstorf himself had some arresting data on sea-level rise. All the abstracts and full text for the many presentations and papers can be found here.
The BBC says here that “The worst-case scenarios on climate change envisaged by the UN two years ago are already being realised, say scientists at an international meeting.” Lord Nicholas Stern is quoted by the BBC: “So I think it’s very important that we understand the magnitude of the risk we are running.” Lord Stern is quoted in “The Times” as well: “Do the politicians understand just how difficult it could be, just how devastating four, five, six degrees centigrade would be? I think, not yet.”
Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC, made an address to the conference. EurActiv quotes Dr. Pachauri, referring to politicians, in this article on the meetings. “They should certainly respond to a worst-case scenario – even if there is only a small risk that it becomes reality – because it will have terrible consequences. It is quite common risk management.”
(Foto: Lizette Kabré.)
The world’s scientists have been sounding the alarm for decades now. The policymakers have to really step up to the plate this year, as never before.
