THE technological solutions to global warming are "well within our grasp" and require only the political will to implement them, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a report today.
THE technological solutions to global warming are "well within our grasp" and require only the political will to implement them, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a report today.
Mr Blair said a series of crunch meetings this year - including the Major Economies Forum (MEF) in Italy this week and the Copenhagen climate change summit in December - should see the fight against global warming move from the campaigning stage to "practical policy making".
Today's report, published jointly with the Climate Group for distribution at Thursday's MEF meeting, sets out seven "tried and tested" policies which can achieve the goal of peak carbon emissions by 2020.
The report, Technology for a Low Carbon Future, says the technologies required to meet the 2020 goal of reducing global CO2 emissions by 19 gigatonnes "are already proven, available now and the policies needed to implement them known".
Almost half the reduction (9 Gt) can be achieved by halting deforestation and forest degradation, which will require rich world support for the developing countries where the major "carbon sinks" are located.
Other action which can be taken immediately includes stimulus for alternative energy sources such as wind and solar, efficiency gains in industry, higher building standards, improved vehicle efficiency, lower-carbon fuels and less power-thirsty household appliances.
The report urges governments to act now on these achievable short-term measures: energy efficiency, halting deforestation and lower-carbon power sources - while investing in future technologies which will be needed to reduce CO2 emissions by 50-85% by 2050.
Compared to summits, such as Kyoto in 1997 and Gleneagles in 2005, this year's meetings will benefit from "almost universal" acceptance of the scientific evidence on climate change and a willingness by politicians to adopt ambitious emission reduction targets, said Mr Blair.
While recognising constraints the global recession places on states' ability to commit vast sums to climate change, Mr Blair insisted "the cost of inaction is far greater".
