By Martin Banks - 9th September 2007
Climate change is an “unintended” side effect of society, a top expert on global warming told the European parliament.
At the same time, global warming poses the “greatest threat” to the world, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber told a news conference on Monday.
This theory was disputed by some influential figures until a short time ago but recent scientific studies have proven “beyond doubt” the existence of global warming, said Schellnhuber, principle advisor on climate change to German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Schellnhuber, of the Potsdam scientific institute in Germany, was speaking alongside Karl-Heinz Florenz, who is drafting a report on the issue for the assembly and is a member of its temporary committee on climate change.
Schellnhuber said that increasing number of floods, heavy storms, forest fire and other extreme weather will increasingly pose a “dramatic” economic cost to society.
Efforts to tackle the problem, he said, were not only scientifically justified but also “economically and ethically imperative”.
He said the United Nations had estimated that 90 per cent of global warming was man-made.
“The evidence is irrefutable. To illustrate the significance of all this, I would say you would not enter a plane if you were told there was a 90 per cent chance of it crashing.”
His comments were echoed by Florenz, a German centre-right deputy, who said the EU should “take a lead” in addressing the threat posed by climate change.
The committee could help in this regard by producing a more “coherent” approach to the issue, he said.
The EU also needs to set "strict but feasible" targets on pollution as well as explaining clearly, said Florenz, who will present his report to parliament next April.
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