IPCC chief abandons pretense of policy neutrality

Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the U. N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which decided after its First Assessment Report to be policy relevant, but not policy prescriptive, has stated publicly that certain policies are not good enough.

Pachauri told Reuters (Oct. 25), following the Russian Dumas decision to ratify Kyoto, that, My feeling is that we will probably need to do more than most people are talking about to combat global warming.  He went on, This mustnt lull us into thinking the problem is solved.  Kyoto is not enough.  We now have to look at the problem afresh.

The IPCCs chairman even went so far as to recommend a policy: We need a degree of agreement on where to stabilize concentrations, he said, and added, We have to try to come up with an understanding of where we are heading in the next 30-40 years.

Pachauri also saw fit to prejudge the outcome of the Fourth Assessment Report, due in 2007, saying, My hope is that this will be able to fill gaps, reduce uncertainties and produce a much stronger message.

He also contributed a foreword to a report by the New Economics Foundation and the Working Group on Climate and Development that recommends limiting the global temperature increase to 2 C., opposing the use of carbon sinks in meeting Kyoto targets, and removing World Bank support for fossil fuel projects.