Lecture by the OECD Secretary-General, Mr. Angel Gurría
I have come here today to talk about the ambition needed to tackle climate change and the policy tools that can get us there. As we approach the Conference of the Parties in late 2015 in Paris, our leaders are facing a fundamental dilemma: to get to grips with the risks of climate change or see their ability to limit this threat slip from their hands.
Today our understanding of the scale of the risks posed by climate change is much better developed and supported by seriously tested and globally accepted evidence. The IPCC report released on 27 September stated that warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The report is also clear that it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.
While governments need to start taking action now to put us on a pathway to achieve zero net greenhouse emissions globally in the second half of this century, our dependence on fossil fuels appears to be unshaken. We need to learn from the policies some countries are implementing to drive the investment and technology shift needed to break that dependence, and to highlight the stumbling blocks that will require strong political will to be overcome.
See full Article: http://www.oecd.org/env/the-climate-challenge-achieving-zero-emissions.htm
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