SPEAKER

R K Pachauri, Ph.D Nobel Laureate, Director-General, TERI Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

A former CERAWeek speaker returned on Tuesday as a Nobel Laureate. A Special Address on Energy and the Environment was given by Dr. R. K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which shared with former US Vice President Al Gore the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Dr. Pachauri quoted a Swedish scientist who warned—in 1988—that fossil fuel emissions could warm the planet. The IPCC was formed that year to assess climate change and inform the world. Its reports are peer reviewed by experts, and governments review the executive summaries word by word to accept the language. The IPCC released its Fourth Assessment Report in 2007, with 2,500 expert reviews, 450 lead authors, and 130 countries approving. Said Dr. Pachauri, “The data leaves no room for doubt; the data is unequivocal,” given rising average air and ocean temperatures. With energy demand expected to grow by more than half over the next 25 years, and the vast majority of that to be satisfied by fossil fuels, action is essential.

Climate change issues differ for developing and developed countries. In developing countries people still do not have access to electricity. With rising temperatures the developing world will feel greater water stress, affecting 500 million to over 1 billion people. “Already people in small island developing states are living in fear,” because of the effects of warmer water, he said.

There is a short window of opportunity, but the temperature rise “is within our means to mitigate.” Nations must insure that emissions peak by 2015 and start declining, or the temperature rise will be much higher. The mitigation costs would create a 3 percent drop in the global gross domestic product in 2030, “postponing the level of prosperity growth by a few months to a year,” while providing cobenefits to health and to energy security.

Today’s technologies can be used with a policy framework that creates a system to deploy them across the globe. “The world will be moving to a low-carbon future, and companies that take the lead will meet with success in both business and the eyes of society,” Dr. Pachauri said. “Nations and companies that stand unmoved will lose influence.” He noted that Gandhi said a technological society can choose to wait until catastrophic failures expose systemic deficiencies, or it can provide social checks and balances that prevent such failures. “I hope we have the wisdom to stave off dissolution.”

In discussion with CERA Chairman Daniel Yergin, Dr. Pachauri noted that ConocoPhillips Chairman James J. Mulva in the previous address had agreed that climate change is a fact. “If an industry leader can speak that language, that’s an extremely powerful and hopeful sign,” said Dr. Pachauri. Asked about the policies of China and India, Dr. Pachauri said both are signatories to Kyoto, but that there’s been a loss of credibility because developed countries haven’t met what were fairly modest emissions reduction targets, while the ratio of energy use, the United States to India, for example, is 20 to 1. Yet clearly developing countries must pursue a path distinct from that of the developed world, as they cannot possibly match it. Dr. Pachauri also suggested that there might be a future need to alter lifestyles and discussed energy efficiency, new technologies, and a carbon price.