Climate experts agreed on a UN report today that said fighting global warming is affordable and that the technology available to slow the growth in greenhouse gas emissions, a senior delegate said.
"It's done," he said after five days of intense talks about how much the battle against climate change would cost and how to go about it.
The talks in Bangkok, Thailand, ran into the early hours as scientists and government officials from more than 100 countries tried to resolve complex issues in the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The report deals with ways to curb rapid growth in greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and forests, that scientists say are causing global warming. It also says current policies are inadequate.
"With current climate-change-mitigation policies and related sustainable-development practices, global greenhouse gas emissions will continue to grow over the next few decades," a revised draft of the report says.
The formal report, yet to be published, does not set out policies. It reviews the latest science on the costs and ways to curb emissions growth and is designed to be a blueprint for governments.
But it says there is a wide variety of technology already available to fight climate change at costs bearable by much of the developing world responsible for a lot of the current growth.
They include nuclear, solar and wind power; more energy-efficient buildings; and lighting. Capturing and storing carbon dioxide spewed from coal-fired power stations and oil and gas rigs is also feasible, the report argues.
In some cases, such technologies could lead to substantial benefits, such as cutting health costs by tackling pollution.
Even changing planting times for rice paddies or managing cattle and sheep flocks better could cut emissions of methane, another powerful greenhouse gas, it says.