Vol. 525 No. 3
116 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the implications for environment policy of the draft report of the UN sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showing that global warming was increasing at a higher rate than expected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24789/00]
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, has been established jointly by the World Meteorological Organisation and the UN Environment Programme to make periodic assessments of the science, impacts and socio-economic aspects of climate change and of adaptation and mitigation options to address it and to provide advice to the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The IPCC is preparing its third assessment report which will summarise the state of knowledge covered in previous IPCC reports, but will primarily assess information generated since the Second Assessment Report, 1995.
The IPCC has circulated to Governments the final draft of Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis, prepared by working group I of the IPCC after peer review. Pending its final acceptance, and negotiation of a related summary for policymakers, the IPCC has asked that the draft text not be cited or quoted. However, I am satisfied that the IPCC will confirm the continuing need for urgent and sustained action across all policy areas to ensure that Kyoto targets are met and further reductions in green house gas emissions are made subsequently.
