We are all concerned about Climate Change and Jere Locke from our group is working on the issue at an international level and will be travelling back and forth from Chiang Mai to Texas.
He has sent the following alarming report which I urge you to read.
You may recall that we have a group to work on climate and Urban Issues and its January meeting felt we needed a briefing about new planning rules for Chiang Mai.
That briefing will be at our next general meeting to be arranged after Songkran in the week beginning Monday 21st April.
Safe & Fun Songkran Festival
Ricky Ward
Dear EGA Colleagues:
In an important new analysis published in the current issue of Nature magazine (released today), an influential group of climate-policy experts charges that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has grossly underestimated the challenges of reducing and stabilizing greenhouse-gas emissions. See this article.
According to Nature’s commentary, “[most of the emissions scenarios that the Intergovernmental Panel on Change Change (IPCC) considered for its last report include significant ‘built-in’ technological change. In other words, the IPCC assumes that a good deal of climate-friendly innovation will happen spontaneously, in the absence of climate policy
measures.”In an analysis that has “stirred up a hornet’s nest,” energy experts Roger Pielke, Tom Wigley and Christopher Green argue that the IPCC plays “a risky game” and that the assumption of a lot of spontaneous technological change could be misinterpreted as a license for policymakers not to take aggressive action. The commentary authors warn that “assuming that pure market forces will readily come to our aid in matters of climate change might be too optimistic.”
The analysis is accompanied by initial reactions from other leaders in the field. See this article.
For a debate funders may want to engage. Just as it will be important for policy makers to be as well informed as possible, it will be critical for funders to base their grantmaking strategies on a clear view of the technological and political challenges ahead.
All my best,
Peter Teague
Director, Environment & Contemplative Practice Programs
The Nathan Cummings Foundation
475 10th Ave., 14th Floor
New York, NY 10018
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