IPCC Report under Fire. Schiermeier, Q. Nature, 508(7496):298, April, 2014.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
Critics attack panel's lack of specific guidance on how countries should lower emissions. [Excerpt] [...] The document, a policy summary prepared by Working Group III of the IPCC, is the third instalment of the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report. It follows reports on the science of climate and the impacts of climate change, released in the past few months. Compiled by hundreds of lead and reviewing authors over several years, the report warns that without substantial policy and technology changes, the world is heading towards dangerous temperature rises. Its focus is therefore on the technological and economic options for stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse-gas concentrations at acceptable levels. [...] The report, released at a packed press conference in a Berlin hotel, details how annual emissions have increased from 27 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 equivalent in 1970 to 49\,Gt in 2010 (see 'Who emits what?'). Emissions may now have reached more than 52\,Gt per year. The report adds that to have a 50\,% chance of keeping the global surface-temperature increase below the UN target of 2\,°C, humans must not release more than an additional 1,550\,Gt of greenhouse gases before 2100. At current rates, that limit will be exceeded before 2050. The working group also warns that developed countries' emissions targets for 2020 – agreed at a 2010 climate summit in Cancun, Mexico – are inconsistent with the 2\,°C ceiling, which was set at the same summit. '' Meeting this goal would require further substantial reductions beyond 2020,'' the report finds. The IPCC also acknowledges that the renewable-energy industry is making substantial gains in performance and cost reductions. But it notes that growing global energy demand and an increase in coal's share of the global fuel mix in recent years threaten to thwart mitigation efforts. [...] Some researchers have long argued for a more pragmatic and diversified approach to climate change. For example, one group wrote in a policy paper in 2010 that fostering technological progress while focusing on poverty reduction – an estimated 1.5 billion people have no access to electricity – might ultimately prove more effective than international treaties such as the expired Kyoto Protocol on climate change (G. Prins et al. The Hartwell Paper; LSE, 2010). [...] Most critics agree that the IPCC, despite not having a remit to prescribe policies, has managed to strengthen the links between science and politics. '' The process forces policy-makers to really engage with the science underlying climate change''
@article{schiermeierIPCCReportFire2014,
  title = {{{IPCC}} Report under Fire},
  author = {Schiermeier, Quirin},
  year = {2014},
  month = apr,
  volume = {508},
  pages = {298},
  issn = {0028-0836},
  doi = {10.1038/508298a},
  abstract = {Critics attack panel's lack of specific guidance on how countries should lower emissions. [Excerpt] [...] The document, a policy summary prepared by Working Group III of the IPCC, is the third instalment of the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report. It follows reports on the science of climate and the impacts of climate change, released in the past few months. Compiled by hundreds of lead and reviewing authors over several years, the report warns that without substantial policy and technology changes, the world is heading towards dangerous temperature rises. Its focus is therefore on the technological and economic options for stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse-gas concentrations at acceptable levels. [...] The report, released at a packed press conference in a Berlin hotel, details how annual emissions have increased from 27 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 equivalent in 1970 to 49\,Gt in 2010 (see 'Who emits what?'). Emissions may now have reached more than 52\,Gt per year. The report adds that to have a 50\,\% chance of keeping the global surface-temperature increase below the UN target of 2\,\textdegree C, humans must not release more than an additional 1,550\,Gt of greenhouse gases before 2100. At current rates, that limit will be exceeded before 2050.

The working group also warns that developed countries' emissions targets for 2020 -- agreed at a 2010 climate summit in Cancun, Mexico -- are inconsistent with the 2\,\textdegree C ceiling, which was set at the same summit. '' Meeting this goal would require further substantial reductions beyond 2020,'' the report finds. 

The IPCC also acknowledges that the renewable-energy industry is making substantial gains in performance and cost reductions. But it notes that growing global energy demand and an increase in coal's share of the global fuel mix in recent years threaten to thwart mitigation efforts. [...] Some researchers have long argued for a more pragmatic and diversified approach to climate change. For example, one group wrote in a policy paper in 2010 that fostering technological progress while focusing on poverty reduction -- an estimated 1.5 billion people have no access to electricity -- might ultimately prove more effective than international treaties such as the expired Kyoto Protocol on climate change (G. Prins et al. The Hartwell Paper; LSE, 2010). [...] Most critics agree that the IPCC, despite not having a remit to prescribe policies, has managed to strengthen the links between science and politics. '' The process forces policy-makers to really engage with the science underlying climate change''},
  journal = {Nature},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-13140128,climate-change,communicating-uncertainty,complexity,environmental-policy,ipcc,mitigation,multi-stakeholder-decision-making,science-based-decision-making,science-policy-interface,scientific-communication},
  lccn = {INRMM-MiD:c-13140128},
  number = {7496}
}
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