CASEnergy Applauds the IPCC’s Final Synthesis Report on Climate Change

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 17, 2007 – Today the IPCC released the final part of “Climate Change 2007”, a synthesis report designed to be the definitive source upon which to base climate change policy. This report integrates the aggregate scientific information into a concise and user-friendly document explicitly targeted to policymakers.

This scientifically authoritative document is expected to serve as a major influence in the discussions at the U.N.’s 13thclimate change conference in Bali next month.

In its most forceful statement to date, the IPCC's report concludes that the warming of the climate system is unequivocal, global greenhouse gas emissions due to human activities have increased by 70%, and if that growth continues unchecked it will result in "abrupt and irreversible" impacts on the earth's environment. The report argues that emission of carbon, which comes primarily from fossil fuels, must stabilize by 2015 and decrease after that or consequences would be "disastrous." Therefore mitigation strategies must be expanded. With regard to the energy sector, the IPCC recommends increasing energy efficiency, the use of renewable sources, and reducing the dependence on single sources of energy. Nuclear power is identified as one of the key mitigation technologies within the energy sector portfolio.

CASEnergy supports the IPCC report recommendations that advocate a diverse energy portfolio and cite the inclusion and expansion of nuclear power in their response strategies to global climate change.

“If you look at countries around the world, corporations and NGOs, the world has rallied around the environment, and many nations and organizations have recognized the role nuclear energy needs to play to reduce greenhouse gases,” said CASEnergy co-chair Christie Todd Whitman, former NJ Governor and EPA Administrator.

“I spent 16 years at Greenpeace campaigning beside other environmentalists to change policy, but what’s happening now is a global movement. It’s a collaboration of citizens and nations that realize climate change affects us all and the planet we live on,” said CASEnergy co-chair Dr. Patrick Moore. “A comprehensive response to global climate change must include nuclear power.”

Maintaining operation of today’s 439 nuclear plants and constructing new plants can help mitigate global and regional impacts on climate change. Worldwide, nuclear energy provides more than 45 percent of electricity that doesn’t emit greenhouse gases.

CASEnergy and its co-chairs applaud the IPCC for affecting public policy and encouraging factual discussion about nuclear energy and its role to combat the effects of global climate change.