Scientists confirm human impact on climate change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has confirmed that human activity has proven responsibility for at least 50 per cent of climate change in the last half century, according to its assessment report released today.

The UN report says scientists are 95 per cent certain that human activities such as the use of fossil-fuel based power generation have contributed to the scenario.

The report is the benchmark study on global warming published every five or six years. Nearly 1,000 researchers from around the world work on the document, which then undergoes review by about as many scientists.

It contains a "summary for policymakers" aimed at guiding politicians and lawmakers worldwide on decisions regarding the environment over the next several years.

More than 850 expert authors from 85 countries contributed research for the full report, which will be released in three stages through April. The first, on the physical science behind climate change, accompanies the summary for policymakers. The second, expected in March, will cover "impacts and vulnerabilities" of climate change; the third, on mitigation efforts, is set to go out in April.

Responding to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC), Maf Smith, Deputy Chief Executive of RenewableUK, said:

“The scientific community is sending a clear and unequivocal message to policymakers that urgent action is needed to reduce our carbon emissions and set in place paths to create a future of clean, carbon reducing sources of energy if we are to reduce our negative impacts on our environment.”

In an email statement to Power Engineering International, Mr Smith added, “Wind has a vital role to play in this, given that as a result of wind power deployment in the UK we are reducing by 10 million tonnes every year the amount of carbon that we pump in to the atmosphere. This report shows that we cannot rest on our laurels though, we have to make sure that we hit our 2020 carbon reduction targets as well as looking beyond 2020 so we can create a decarbonised economy fit for the future.”

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