There have been some major wake-up calls in the fight against global warming, starting with the United Nations scolding the U.S. for not doing enough to mitigate its contributions to the problem.

U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer told the Associated Press that it’s "very clear" the U.S. is not on the right track, despite the Bush administration’s recent openness to even discussing the problem and the series of meetings President Bush has scheduled with world leaders.

More U.N. meetings begin today to prepare for the Bali talks in December that will include negotiations of how to proceed after the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. On Thursday, President Bush convenes his own two-day meeting with 15 big-emitter nations. Some worry that his smaller, more limited round of negotiations will undercut the Bali discussions.

Our friends across the pond didn’t hear any good news on the climate change front, either. A representative of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) told the BBC that it’s unlikely the European Union will achieve their goal of keeping global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Professor Martin Parry is the co-chair of the IPCC, the group that has brought us three reports so far this year on the science, impacts, and solutions of climate change. He told the BBC that the chances of humans keeping the average global temperature increase less than 2 degrees C is "quite little."

He went on to explain that the increase of more than 2 degrees will result in major consequences. Water shortages around the globe may occur (especially in areas with melting glaciers that depend on the freeze and thaw for water), heat waves may increase, and crops may be threatened.

Parry believes it is still possible to contain the rise in temperature to less than 3 degrees Celsius, although, as always, our actions have to be swift. In the meantime, world leaders must discuss "very seriously" plans for significant adaptation measures.

Associated Press, via Kansas City Star
BBC
Terra Daily

The European Union (EU) has unveiled an ambitious energy plan, with the expressed goal of slowing global warming at the heart of it.

The plan includes cutting global warming pollution from the 27-nation bloc 20 percent by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. There is a possibility of increasing that goal to 30 percent if developing nations agree to the same cuts. The EU called on the United States – the world’s biggest emitter of global warming pollution – to also sign binding targets for emission cuts. President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, met with President Bush last week and had this prediction at a later news conference:

"We need the United States with us…I personally believe the United States will change and they will be much more ambitious in the future when it comes to climate change."

The EU plans to reach the 20 percent emission cuts by increasing renewable energy to 20 percent of its energy mix, increasing energy efficiency, and encouraging countries that are phasing out nuclear power – like Germany – to replace it with clean sources like wind. The 20 percent renewable energy goal is up from the previous goal of 12 percent by 2010 – a goal which the EU is unlikely to hit.

Energy and environmental activists criticize the plan as too little, too slowly; a 20 percent reduction would not be enough to avoid some of the worst global warming consequences. Business interests have criticized the plan as a threat to the economy, forcing them to suffer when competing with businesses in other countries that don’t agree to the cuts.

The plan has been adopted by the EU’s executive branch, but needs to be approved by the EU governments and the European Parliament.

United Nations officials believe the plan could spur further international talks on slowing global warming.

Reuters News Service, via Planet Ark