A conclusion on the climate from the IPCC

Saturday saw the release of the latest IPCC report: the Synthesis Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment. Key points include:

• There is potential for the earth to warm by an average of 6 degrees over the next century: this would be disasterous.
• Eleven of the last twelve years (1995-2006) rank among the twelve warmest years in the instrumental record of global surface temperature (since 1850).
• Continued GHG emissions at or above current rates would cause further warming and induce many changes in the global climate system during the 21st century that would very likely be larger than those observed during the 20th century
• There is a very likely increase in frequency of hot extremes, heat waves, and heavy precipitation
• There is high confidence that by mid-century, annual river runoff and water availability are projected to increase at
  high latitudes (and in some tropical wet areas) and decrease in some dry regions in the mid-latitudes and tropics.
  Up tp 30% of species are a risk of extinction.
  Up to 5% of global GDP could be lost
  Tropical diseases will spread
• Sea levels could rise by 23 inches by 2100
• It has been suggested by the IPCC that a suitable price for carbon emissions would be $80 per tonne. Read more from BusinessGreen on the IPCC and carbon pricing
  

The report.

Watch the press conference