CHINA:China and the United States are at loggerheads with the European Union over the text of a draft report by top UN scientists on how to tackle global warming, due to be finalised in Bangkok tomorrow.
A week-long meeting of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is meant to produce a detailed menu of the steps that need to be taken if the world is to avoid the worst effects of global warming this century.
Its latest report on mitigation measures, compiled by several hundred IPCC scientists, suggests that it should be possible to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for causing climate change by switching to cleaner technologies.
"It is technically and economically feasible to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere . . . provided that incentives are in place to further develop and implement a range of mitigation technologies," the draft says.
It emphasises the need for energy efficiency across the board, especially in buildings and road transport, increased use of renewable energy such as wind and solar power, and also endorses - more controversially - the nuclear option.
More "cost-effective" measures would involve protecting forests for their value as "carbon sinks" as well as incorporating "carbon capture and storage" into the design of new coal-fired power stations so that their gases do not escape.
The draft report suggests that mankind already has the technological expertise to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 26 billion tonnes between now and 2030 - enough to cap the rise in average temperatures to two degrees Celsius.
The EU delegation in Bangkok has been pressing other members of the IPCC to adopt this as an objective, but it is meeting stiff resistance from China, which is concerned that such a "cap" could stall its spectacular economic growth in recent years.
China and the US have both made it clear that they regard the proposed cap as too low, and they are seeking to insert language into the final version of the report watering down the IPCC's conclusion that action to stabilise emissions is needed now.
While the EU wants the final report to refer to taking action "within the next two or three decades", the US wants a longer timetable - "the end of the century" - and is also prepared to live with much higher greenhouse gas concentrations.
It is also lobbying for a clause to be inserted suggesting that the cost of technologies currently available to reduce or stabilise emissions "could be unacceptably high" and wants more emphasis on advanced technologies for coal-fired power plants.
The US has championed the need for research into stationing huge mirrors in space to block excessive sunlight, though the IPCC draft describes this notion as "largely speculative, uncosted and with potential for unknown side-effects".
The panel's chairman, Indian scientist Dr Rajendra Pachauri, said all of the 119 countries represented in Bangkok this week would have a chance to express their views and "ultimately it's a balanced assessment of the science that will prevail". The report on mitigation measures due to be finalised for release tomorrow is the third tranche of the IPCC's latest assessment of climate change. The earlier reports firmed up the scientific basis for global warming and dealt with its likely impacts.
A "synthesis report" is due to be released in Valencia, Spain in November, a few weeks ahead of this year's UN climate change summit in Bali, Indonesia.
