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Climate Change
 There is wide agreement among climate researchers today that our emissions of greenhouse gases are affecting the Earth's radiation balance. It will get warmer, but there is still some uncertainty about how big the effect will be.
For several reasons it is difficult to determine a precise level of greenhouse gases that nature can "cope with". It is also uncertain how the climate system will react to the emissions, and we still know relatively little about how nature is affected when the climate changes.
Whatever the case it is apparent that to avoid negative effects to humans and ecosystems all over the world the emissions of greenhouse gases must start to decline very soon. There is wide agreement that global mean temperature should not increase more than 2°C over the preindustrial level.
To meet that target with a reasonable degree of confidence, global emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 must be 50-85 per cent below the 1990 level, according to the 2007 assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
In this section (see left hand column) you can learn more about expected effects, emissions of greenhouse gases, possible ways of reducing them, and political developments. Find what you can also do at a personal level to help reduce emissions!
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March 2008
Road map agreed on Bali
Two weeks of negotiations on Bali in December resulted in an agreement between ..
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March 2008
Expensive and unsustainable
Germany continues to invest in brown coal mining, despite ambitious climate targets.
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December 2007
“The time for doubt has passed”
In the run-up to the Climate Conference in December the Intergovernmental Panel ..
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December 2007
Massive emission reductions needed
To limit global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels, emissions from the ..
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June 2007
IPCC: It is possible to stop global warming
We must make sweeping cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in the next 50 years, but it ..
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June 2007
IPCC: The poorest people will be hardest hit
The effects of human-induced climate change pose an increasing threat to the ..
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March 2007
IPCC: The heat is on
Evidence that human activities are causing the planet to warm up is ..
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December 2006
Mistrust in Nairobi
Lack of confidence between industrialized and developing countries remains a major ..
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December 2006
The cost of inertia
Allowing greenhouse gas emissions to continue to increase may cost up to ..
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May 2006
Global warming could more than quadruple
Whilst most studies only look at climate change up to the year 2100, this study ..
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May 2006
Risks and options in the limelight
There is new evidence that the sensitivity of the climate system is higher than ..
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February 2006
Widespread effects expected
Far-reaching climate effects can be expected all over the European continent ...
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November 2005
Climate change a major threat
More than half of European plant species could be vulnerable or face ..
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September 2005
Climate threat increasingly clear
Serious effects start to become widespread with just a two-degree rise in global ..
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