Chairman of IPCC testifies before Congress

Today Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, testified before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Chairman Edward J. Markey of the Select Committee hosted what was Dr. Pachauri’s first appearance before Congress.

In his somber, eloquent testimony, Dr. Pauchauri reminded Congress that addressing global warming isn’t just about installing wind turbines and passing vehicle efficiency standards; it's about protecting the poorest, most vulnerable people on the planet. Evoking Ghandi he quoted, "Anything you do, you must look at what the implications will be for the least privileged." In material terms, he was alluding to shocking statistics that a warming climate will likely lead to water stresses and crop reduction by 50% in some African countries by 2020.

Dr. Pachauri also testified that global warming cannot be stopped. Even if the world’s greenhouse gas emissions peaked in 2015, the gases already in the atmosphere would continue warming the earth by 0.1 degrees every decade. This climate shift will be enough to make one fifth to one third of the earth’s organisms extinct. There is a strong possibility that Greenland will collapse, creating higher ocean levels that will change the world’s geography.

Nevertheless, Dr. Pachauri reminded the Select Committee that there is reason to be hopeful, and to start moving towards becoming a low emission society. All the green technology that we need has either been developed or will be so in the next two decades. Genetically modified crops can be developed to become more flood and drought resistant. The use of wind power is dramatically rising around the globe. Countries like Germany are having an "Energy Renaissance" which is bringing economic growth. If America engages in investment flows, technology transfers, and incentives towards clean energies, it can lead the world as a low emissions economy.

Capping carbon need not be at the expense of alleviating poverty in the developing world, and Dr. Pachauri called one of his personal missions "Lighting a million lights." He is dedicated to bringing renewable energy that is affordable to the 1.6 billion people who currently have no access to electricity. As a society that is "preoccupied with human rights," he encouraged the US to engage with its own low-emission partnership activities with developing countries.

(Image from Dagbladet: www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2007/01/29/490346.html)