Geoscientists call for deep cuts in CO2
Scientific societies are making ever-stronger calls to slow climate change.
The world's largest society of earth scientists has released its strongest statement yet on climate change. The 45,000-member American Geophysical Union (AGU) says warming must be limited to no more than 2 °C above preindustrial levels by cutting CO2 emissions by more than half within this century.
The climate "is now clearly out of balance and is warming," the statement begins. It states unequivocally that recent warming is caused by humans and warns that warming of more than 2 °C would disrupt civilization by "reducing global agricultural productivity, causing widespread loss of biodiversity, and—if sustained over centuries—melting much of the Greenland ice sheet with ensuing rise in sea level of several meters." The statement is the first revision of the society's official position on climate since 2003 and is its first to recommend policy action to cut emissions.
"The scientific community has to assume greater responsibility to inform the public and policy makers in a responsible, calm way," said AGU president Timothy Killeen at a press conference announcing the statement. "You can't expect geoscientists to create policy," he said, "but they can analyze it."
Many scientific societies now have official positions on climate change, which point to human causes and warn with increasing intensity of dire consequences. Statements have been issued by the American Meteorological Society, American Chemical Society (PDF: 39 KB), American Institute of Physics, American Association for the Advancement of Science (PDF: 33 KB), Engineers Australia, and Geological Society of America, in addition to several joint statements issued by international science academies.
No major body representing science researchers refutes the basic science pointing to human influence on climate. Two professional societies, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the American Association of State Climatologists (PDF: 88 KB) have issued statements that recognize human influence on climate but also point to uncertainties in future scenarios.
