Three Studies Find Copenhagen Commitments Fall Short

The United Nations Environment Program has determined that commitments made at the climate change summit in Copenhagen last month were not sufficient to prevent a rise in global temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius, Newsweek reported. A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ventana Systems and the Sustainability Institute found implementation of the proposals put forward in Copenhagen would likely result in a global rise in temperature of 3.9 degrees Celsius by 2100. A third study, this one by the Potsdam Institute, calculated that even if all Copenhagen proposals were fully funded, the rise in global temperature would be 3.2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

Wrote Newsweek: "As all three groups pointed out, if the world delays action by even a few years -- as now seems inevitable -- emissions cuts will have to be considerably larger to stay within the 2-degree range." Nick Nuttall, the UNEP's chief spokesman, was quoted as saying: "It becomes increasingly difficult to achieve reduction and increasingly costly if you wait." Stalling the global temperature rise, said Newsweek, "will require a truly global commitment to deeper cuts. China and other developing nations will have to agree to binding reductions, something Beijing has stridently resisted. The U.S.-- which has emitted more greenhouse gases than any other nation -- will have to ensure much deeper cuts than those President Obama offered in Copenhagen."