Union of Concerned Scientists: Top US Scientists and Economists Call for Swift, Deep Cuts in Global Warming Pollution
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2008
9:56 AM
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CONTACT: Union of Concerned Scientists
Aaron Huertas, 202-331-5458 |
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Top US Scientists and Economists Call for Swift, Deep Cuts in Global Warming Pollution
More Than 1,700 Say Early Reductions Can Benefit Economy
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WASHINGTON, DC - May 29 - More than 1,700 of the nation's most prominent scientists and economists today released a joint statement calling on policymakers to require immediate, deep reductions in heat-trapping emissions that cause global warming. Issued just days before the Senate begins debate on the Lieberman-Warner climate bill, the statement marks the first time leading U.S. scientists and economists have joined together to make such an appeal. (For the statement and the list of signatories, go to: www.ucsusa.org/climateletter.)
The statement stresses that implementing policies to achieve swift and substantial cuts is both economically sound and necessary to limit the worst consequences of climate change.
"There is a strong consensus that we must do something about reducing the emissions that cause global warming," said James McCarthy, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and one of the statement's authors. "The debate right now is about how much we need to cut. The fact that so many scientists and economists have spoken out and signed this letter should give policymakers the confidence that we can avert serious adverse climate impacts."
Besides McCarthy, the statement authors include Mario Molina, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry; Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lead author; Stephen Schneider, a Stanford University climatologist and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS); and Geoff Heal, an economist at Columbia University's Business School. The signatories, compiled by UCS, include six Nobel Prize winners in science or economics, 31 NAS members, and more than 100 IPCC authors and editors, who all shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
According to the statement, "the strength of the science on climate change" compelled the signers to warn policymakers of climate change's growing risks, including "sea level rise, heat waves, droughts, wildfires, snowmelt, floods and disease, as well as increased plant and animal species extinctions."
The statement notes that acting quickly to cut global warming pollution would be the most cost-effective way to limit climate change. If the United States delays taking action, future cuts would have to more drastic and would be much more expensive. Those costs would come in addition to the increased cost of adapting to more climate change. Conversely, the statement says smart reduction strategies would allow the economy to grow, generate new domestic jobs, protect public health, and strengthen energy security.
The statement concludes that the United States should reduce global warming pollution "on the order of 80 percent below 2000 levels by 2050" and that the first step should be reductions of 15 to 20 percent below 2000 levels by 2020. The statement calls on the United States to set an example and bring nations together to meet the climate challenge.
Columbia University economist Heal said the cost of inaction far outweighs the cost of addressing climate change. The costs of cutting emissions to safe levels would be between 1 and 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), he said, while the costs of allowing climate change to proceed unabated would be on the order of 10 to 20 percent of GDP.
Heal sees the challenge of reducing global warming emissions as an economic opportunity. "Limiting global warming emissions is a great investment," he said. "When you compare the cost of acting to the cost of not acting, cutting emissions would give the world a return of 10 to 1. That's attractive even to a venture capitalist."
The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world. Founded in 1969, UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has offices in Berkeley, California, and Washington, D.C. For more information, go to www.ucsusa.org.
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