Various reports today indicate that American and European Union envoys are seeking more clarity from the United Nations on a slowdown in global warming that climate skeptics have cited as a reason not to “panic” about environmental changes.
A draft of the summary and the underlying 2,200-page report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were obtained by Bloomberg in advance, even though they are not set for public release until later this month. Reports indicate that this is promoting the envoys to seek more details on the so-called “hiatus” to be included in a key document set to be debated at a UN conference next month that will summarise the latest scientific conclusions on climate change.
A Bloomberg article quotes Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics as saying that including more information on the hiatus will help officials counter arguments that the slowing pace of global warming in recent years is a sign that the long-term trend may be discounted.
“In the public debate, there are people who are using the slowdown to say global warming is less of a problem than thought,” Ward said in an interview. “It has to be fully explained in the summary.”
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