Draft report calls for climate change 'Plan B'

A new UN report suggests that a Plan B needs to be created in terms of dealing with the effects of climate change. According to the report, governments are failing to adequately reduce emissions, which means that global warming and its effects will continue. It suggests that more will need to be done to rapidly reduce emissions if current targets are overshot.

The leaked Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) draft report revealed that countries will have to work harder to dramatically cut down on carbon dioxide emissions during the second half of this century in order to mitigate climate change if they fail to meet targets during the first half. It suggests that if targets are then failed again, carbon dioxide would effectively have to be sucked out of the atmosphere.

It suggests that this would be achieved through burning wood and effectively capturing the carbon dioxide, which would then be stored underground within rock formations. However, according to the report, the technology that would be needed to achieve this has yet to be tested on such a grand scale as would be needed to make any difference to the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The report goes on to say that these carbon removal systems could result in long term damage to ecosystems and forests if they do not succeed. The technology could also be strongly opposed by the public, which could result in problems when it comes to implementation.

As well as looking at possible technologies that could help to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the report also warns that countries are currently on track to exceed the carbon dioxide safety net by 2030. Emissions of the greenhouse gas have been accelerating rather than reducing, resulting in them tripling since 1970.

The authors of the report suggest that a number of governments are failing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions due to a lack of ability or due to a lack of will to implement changes. However, in order to keep emissions between 430 and 480 parts per million of carbon dioxide, they must be reduced by the year 2030.