Press Release: Climate change: New report from the world’s leading scientists underlines the need for urgent global action

European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas called for an urgent start to international negotiations on a comprehensive new global climate change agreement following the publication on 2 February 2007 of alarming scientific evidence by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The consensus report from IPCC Working Group I (WG1) projects that, without more action to limit greenhouse gas emissions, the global average temperature is likely to rise by a further 1.8-4.0°C this century, after increasing by over 0.7°C in the past 100 years. Even the low end of this range would take the temperature rise since pre-industrial times to above 2°C, the level at which there could be irreversible and possibly catastrophic consequences. The pace of global warming and sea-level rise has increased. The recent observations and measurements reflected in the report dispel any doubts that the global climate is changing and that human activities have caused most of the changes observed in the past 50 years.

European Commission: DG Communication: SPEECH/07/62 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/07/62&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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