Cut greenhouse gas emissions to prevent climate change, say experts

Washington, Sep 17 (ANI): To avoid further degradation of the climate, emission of greenhouse gasses need to be substantially cut below current levels in the next few decades, scientists have suggested.

Climate scientists from the UK and US came to this conclusion at an international workshop on the UK AVOID program in Washington, DC exploring the most policy-relevant aspects of understanding dangerous climate change.

Latest results from AVOID have shown that strong mitigation action to limit temperature rise to below 2 degree C avoids many of the climate impacts, but not all of them.

Examples show that 50 percent of the impact of water scarcity, and almost 40 percent of the impact of decreasing crop suitability can be avoided through early action on greenhouse gas emissions.

Jason Lowe, chief scientist for the AVOID program, said: "This workshop has provided the opportunity to compare approaches in the UK and US to identify the results that are the most robust. The aim now is to work together to find concrete ways of taking forward the best UK and US science for the benefit of policymakers.

"Such work is essential to inform government policies both in the UK and the US with robust and up-to-date evidence."

Peter Backlund, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado said "Designing mitigation and adaptation strategies to avoid dangerous climate change is a major challenge for the US, the UK, and other nations." (ANI)