February 1, 2007

Climate Change Report: Global Warming “Very Likely” Man-Made

Global warming is “very likely” man-made, according to a report being released tomorrow from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The report unanimously portrays the science of global warming as an existing and worsening threat. The panel quickly agreed Thursday on two of the most contentious issues: attributing global warming to man-made burning of fossil fuels and connecting it to a recent increase in stronger hurricanes, Associated Press reports (via Forbes).

The phrase “Very Likely”  is an escalation from the panel’s last report in 2001, which said warming was “likely” caused by human activity.

China, which has increasingly turned to fossil fuels for its growing energy needs, was resistant to strong wording on global warming and asked that a footnote be added to the “very likely” statement, according to the article. The footnote reads, “Consideration of remaining uncertainty is based on current methodology.”

The approved text of the Summary for Policymakers of the Report will be presented at a press conference that will take place at 9.30 AM Central European Time on February 2.

The press conference will be webcast live and access details will be made available from web sites: http://www.ipcc.ch and http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu beforehand. The Summary for Policymakers will also be made available in English here.

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