Major Climate Change Conference Commences in Thailand

|PIC1|Over 400 top experts from across the world, as well as delegates from more than 130 governments, have gathered in the Thai capital Bangkok on Monday for a major climate change conference. The conference will look into what is required to effectively combat global warming.

The conference marks the third this year held by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which aims to finalise the third volume of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) 'Climate Change 2007: Mitigation' before its launch on Friday.

According to the BBC, a final draft by the group says the international community can fight effectively against climate change, but only if policies are implemented immediately to halt the alarming increase in carbon emissions across the world by 2030.

Zhou Dadi, a Chinese energy expert and coordinate lead author of the third volume, said that the latest analysis, compared with the Third Fourth Assessment Report released in 2001, has more focus on practice conducted by various countries. The latest report also looks deeper into the social and economic impacts, benefits and costs, on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and thus provides a clearer image for policy makers.

The draft calls for a stabilising of emissions to between 450 and 550 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. Anything less is unrealistic, economists believe, according to the BBC.

However, America and China are allegedly anxious over any hint of a safe limit as this would increase pressure on them to significantly lower their pollution levels.

The IPCC report will be sure to feature in some form when world leaders gather to discuss climate change issues at the latest G8 summit in June.