Nobel Peace Prize Should Spur U.S. Action on Climate Change, Says Science Advocacy Group

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WASHINGTON (October 12, 2007) – The fact that the Nobel peace prize committee gave its annual award to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore highlights the need for the U.S. government to move quickly to address global warming, according to two IPCC authors affiliated with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

"The Nobel committee's recognition affirms that policymakers need to listen to the best available science and act upon it to avoid dangerous climate change," said Peter Frumhoff, a lead author of the IPCC's fourth assessment report on mitigation.

"The IPCC's exceptionally sober appraisal of the threat posed by global warming makes clear how serious this issue is," said Frumhoff, who is director of science and policy at UCS. "The Nobel peace prize committee is giving climate change the attention that it deserves and Congress and the administration should do the same."

The IPCC found that a 3° to 7° Fahrenheit increase in the average global temperature could result in the loss of 30 percent of the world's species, and water shortages in drought-stricken areas that would affect hundreds of millions of people.

"The more scientists study global warming the clearer the consequences become for our children and grandchildren," said Jim McCarthy, co-chair of the 2001 IPCC report on impacts of climate change. "The award underscores the necessity of sound independent science in solving global problems." McCarthy is a professor of biological oceanography at Harvard University, president-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a UCS board member. McCarthy and Frumhoff share the prize with more than 2,500 scientists worldwide working with the IPCC.

Kevin Knobloch, president of UCS, was delighted with the Nobel announcement. "Al Gore and the IPCC should be congratulated for bringing the science of global warming into people's living rooms and the halls of power. Congratulations also go to Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC chair, as well as his predecessor, Robert Watson, who deserves enormous credit for building the IPCC into the force it has become."

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists