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Bangkok: The United States and China want to water down a key climate change report, arguing that quick action to reduce greenhouse gases will be more costly and less effective than the scientists who wrote the report claim, according to documents reviewed yesterday by AP.
The comments, submitted by the two governments ahead of this week's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meeting, also downplay the potential benefits of reducing emissions and take aim at the report's conclusion that quick action could stabilise greenhouse gas levels, limiting the temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius.
The comments from the US and China are a precursor to what delegates expect will be a fight for much of the week to preserve the key conclusions in the draft IPCC report, which says greenhouse gas emissions can be quickly cut below current levels if the world shifts away from fuels like coal, invests in energy efficiency and reforms the agriculture sector.
No discussion
The report was prepared by hundreds of researchers from around the world. A spokeswoman for the US delegation declined to discuss the US position until the draft report is finalised on Friday. Two previous IPCC reports this year painted a dire picture of a future in which unabated greenhouse gas emissions could drive global temperatures up as much as 6 degrees Celsius by 2100.
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