Global Warming Solutions News

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On Friday, May 4th, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the global body charged with assessing the scientific record on global warming, will issue the third volume of its Fourth Assessment Report on global warming.  This memo provides a brief overview of what to expect from the May 4th report.

This volume will examine the solutions to global warming and is expected to conclude that we already have solutions – energy efficiency and renewable energy – to substantially reduce global warming pollution and protect future generations and that these solutions will have other far-ranging benefits, such as improving energy security. 

Solutions Available Now

Based on past IPCC reports and the science published in the five years since the last IPCC mitigation report, this week’s report is expected to find that strong government policies to spur energy efficiency improvements and increase the use of renewable energy can significantly reduce emissions of global warming pollution.

Specifically, the report is expected to conclude the following:

• Without government action, global warming pollution will continue to grow over future decades.

• The energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies needed to meet future energy demand and reduce global warming pollution below current levels are largely available now, but government action will be necessary to put those technologies to use. 

• Putting energy efficiency and renewable energy to use also will create jobs, improve air quality, and enhance energy security.

• It will be cheaper to prevent the worst consequences of global warming than to deal with its consequences.

• Renewable energy requirements, automotive efficiency standards, cap-and-trade programs, and industrial efficiency standards are policies that have been proven to reduce emissions.

• Voluntary measures intended to reduce emissions have not produced significant reductions. 

IPCC Background

Prepared and reviewed by more than 2,500 of the world’s most respected scientists, the consensus IPCC report provides the most thorough assessment of the current state of the knowledge on global warming.

Taken together, the first two volumes of the IPCC report, which were released earlier this year, concluded that burning fossil fuels and other human activities are warming the planet, with impacts already evident worldwide and worsening significantly in future years, unless serious action is taken to reduce emissions. 

Additional Information

For more information on the first volume of this year’s assessment, click here.  Information on the second volume, which looked at impacts of global warming, can be found here.   

Please contact Ben Dunham (bdunham@pirg.org) at (202) 546-9707 with any questions.