Alert over 6C global warm up

Courier Mail
Friday 14/11/2008 Page: 26

GREENHOUSE gas emissions will push up global temperatures by as much as 6C in the long term, warns the International Energy Agency. In a report out yesterday the IEA says preventing catastrophic and irreversible damage needs a major decarbonisation of world energy sources. The agency is an adviser on oil supply, energy prices and greenhouse gases to 28 countries, including Australia.

Agency executive director Nobuo Tanaka said the financial crisis could not be used as an excuse to delay urgent action needed to ensure secure supplies and cut rising greenhouse gas emissions. "We must usher in a global energy revolution by improving energy efficiency and increasing the deployment of lowcarbon energy," he said. The report said energy demand, although still growing at 1.6 per cent a year, had eased due to the economic slowdown.

It expects demand for coal to rise more than any other fuel, accounting for more than a third of the increase in energy use. Modern renewables such as solar and wind energy will grow most rapidly, overtaking gas to become the second largest source of electricity soon after 2010. China and India account for more than half of incremental energy demand to 2030, while the Middle East has emerged as a major new demand centre.

Mr Tanaka said trends in energy supply and consumption were unsustainable environmentally, economically and socially. He warned: "They can and must be altered." Oil would remain the world's main source of energy but the sources of oil, the cost of producing it and prices that we will have to pay are uncertain. "One thing is certain. While market imbalances will feed volatility, the era of cheap oil is over," he said.

WWF-Australia spokesman Paul Toni said that because the IEA accepted that temperatures could rise by as much as 6C, it reinforced the urgent needed to set a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 25 per cent below 1990 levels. "Such a massive temperature rise would have devastating and irreversible impacts on our economy and environment," Mr Toni said. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is not expected to finalise climate change policies until after talks in Poznan, Poland, and will want to see the position of US president-elect Barack Obama.