Global warming fact of the day

NZ 'not playing part' in helping climate

One of the authors of a new report on climate change, which shows greenhouse gases have risen to record levels, says New Zealand is not doing its share.

Radio NZ,

14 April, 2014

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The latest report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found global emissions have grown far faster between 2000 and 2010 than in the previous 30 years and attempts to rein them in are failing.

Figures from the Ministry for the Environment show New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions rose by 25 percent between 1990 and 2012.

Massey University Professor Ralph Sims, who helped write the report's transport chapter, told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme the situation is fixable, but New Zealand is not playing its part.

"We've got a small token gesture to reduce our emissions by 5 percent by 2020, other countries in the world are reducing the 10, 20, 30 percent by 2020," he says.

"No policies in New Zealand are encouraging anybody to reduce emissions."

Associate Professor James Renwick, a climate scientist from Victoria University, believes the Government's targets for reducing emissions are high, but says it is unclear how it will meet them.

"We would need some serious investment and some serious policy signals around moving away from fossil fuels and investing in clean energy technologies and as far as I can see that just isn't happening," he says.

Professor Renwick says with this country's wealth of renewable energy sources, New Zealand has the opportunity to be a world leader in becoming carbon neutral.

Green Party MP Kennedy Graham says the Government is not doing enough to combat climate change.

He told Morning Report the UN statistics since 1990 show both New Zealand's net emissions and gross emissions have soared and are predicted to increase "massively" up until 2030 or 2040.

Minister pushes world deal

Minister for Climate Change Issues Tim Groser says the report proves a global agreement is vital.

He says New Zealand is on the right track in pressing for a binding international agreement on emissions beyond 2020.

Mr Groser says the agreement should be flexible, catering for countries' individual circumstances and allowing them to play to their strengths.

He also praises the agricultural sector, which is often blamed for its large contribution to greenhouse gases.

Mr Groser says the value of agriculture is up by 48 percent since 1990, while emissions only went up by 12 percent.

The IPCC report found without additional efforts the world is on course for a global temperature increase of 3.7 - 4.8 degrees by 2100.

World must curb carbon fuel use - UN

A long-awaited United Nations report on how to curb climate change says the world must rapidly move away from carbon-intensive fuels.

Radio NZ,

14 April, 2014

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There must be a "massive shift" to renewable energy, says the 33-page study released in Berlin.

The BBC reports it has been finalised after a week of negotiations between scientists and government officials.

Natural gas is seen as a key bridge to move energy production away from oil and coal. But there have been battles between participants over who will pay for this energy transition.

The report is the work of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was set up to provide a clear scientific view on climate change and its impacts.

The Summary for Policymakers on mitigation paints a picture of a world with carbon emissions rising rapidly.

About half of all the carbon that humans have pumped into the atmosphere since 1750 has been emitted in the last 40 years.

Rates have been rising fast since 2000, despite the global economic crash.

The report points to an increased use of coal in the decade from the turn of the millennium, "reversing the longstanding trend of decarbonisation of the world's energy supply".

Driven by a global increase in population and economic activity, global surface temperature increases will be between 3.7C and 4.8C in 2100 if no new action is taken.

This is way above the 2 degree level, regarded as the point beyond which dangerous impacts of climate change will be felt.

However, the scientists involved in the report say this situation can be turned around.

"It needs a big change in the energy sector, that is undoubtedly true," said Professor Jim Skea, one of the senior authors of the study.

"One of the biggest areas that's important is getting the carbon out of electricity, so renewable energy, nuclear, fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage, that's all part of the menu if we are going to make the transition to stay under the 2 degree target."

It is not a simple task. To be sure of staying below 2 degrees, the amount of carbon in the air needs to be around 450 parts per million by 2100. To get there, emissions in 2050 need to be 40-70 percent lower than they were in 2010.

The IPCC says that renewables are a critical part of that pathway.

Since the last report in 2007, the scientists say that renewable energy has come on in leaps and bounds.

In 2012, renewables accounted for just over half of the new electricity generation added around the world.