Tiempo Climate Newswatch

"Any notion that we do not know enough to move decisively against climate change has been clearly dispelled," said Yvo de Boer, head of the Climate Change Secretariat on the release of the first volume of the Fourth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on February 2nd. The report sparked a range of comments in the days that followed. "The world's scientists have spoken," said Timothy E Wirth of the United Nations Foundation. "It is time now to hear from the world's policy makers. The so-called and long-overstated 'debate' about global warming is now over," he continued. "Faced with this emergency, now is not the time for half measures. It is the time for a revolution, in the true sense of the term," concluded French President Jacques Chirac.

There were dissenting voices. In the United States, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe described the IPCC assessment as "the corruption of science for political gain." William O'Keefe of the George Marshall Institute said that predictions of a "climate catastrophe in this century are unjustified." In Lagos, Nigeria, Thompson Ayodele of the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis announced the launch of the Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change to provide "more rational thinking" on the climate issue. "Many of the proposed policies are likely to harm a society like Nigeria more than the climate changes they are intended to control," he said.

The European Commission has reached a compromise over delayed plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles. The proposed target for the year 2012 of an average of 120 grams per kilometre travelled for engine emissions from new cars, to be met by improvements in motor technology, has been weakened to 130 grams per kilometre. A further 10 grams per kilometre should result from other measures, such as more efficient air conditioning. "We will shortly be in a position not only to provide the safest and best cars but also the cleanest," claimed industry commissioner Günter Verheugen, who had opposed the more stringent target. The compromise was strongly criticized by Jos Dings of the European Federation for Transport and the Environment. "Not only is the car industry failing on its voluntary commitment to cut carbon dioxide emissions, the Commission now wants to reward this failure with a weaker fuel-efficiency target," he said.

The automobile industry continues to protest the shift from voluntary measures to regulation, with the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) calling the new proposals "unbalanced and damaging." "We're very committed to fighting global warming...," said ACEA spokeswoman Sigrid de Vries, "but putting the burden mainly on the car industry is too costly and not cost-effective, and it will lead toward loss of jobs and manufacturing in Europe." "The ideas put forward... focus too much on vehicle technology, denying the fact that a broad range of means is available to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in a far more cost-effective way," said Sergio Marchionne, ACEA president. European environment minister Stavros Dimas challenged the car industry: "the world needs more efficient cars and someone will provide them. I hope it will be Europe's manufacturers who seize this opportunity first."

A Poverty and Environment Facility has been created to cement the bond between fighting poverty and protecting the environment. The initiative is a joint action by the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme. "Eliminating poverty and hunger and protecting the environment are inseparable," said UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis. "That is why the environment has to be the concern of the whole UN family." The Facility, cited as one of the first concrete examples of UN Reform in action, will help developing countries to integrate sound environment management into their poverty reduction and growth policies, with an emphasis on Africa and Asia.

Arab nations have formed the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED), a civil society initiative based in Beirut, Lebanon. "In order that the Arab countries may occupy a decent position in the new world market, we hope that this forum will succeed in encouraging Arab businessmen and economic institutions to collaborate in the direction of opening an Arab common market for products which are friendly to the environment as well as in the direction of harmonizing environmental measures," said AFED head Najib Saab. The Forum will produce an annual report on environment and development performance.