As climate change bites, pressure mounts for tougher legislation

Pressure on governments to deliver more demanding emission reduction targets looks set to increase after last week saw the publication of three new reports, revealing that not only has climate change already had a huge impact biodiversity, but the Earth could be losing its ability to soak up carbon dioxide faster than scientists expect.

According to the first study, from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Hawaii, CO2 levels are at their highest for 650,000 years and are accumulating in the atmosphere faster than expected.

The report claimed that CO2 levels in the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), almost 40 per cent higher than pre-industrial revolution levels. It also warned that the increase in concentrations of CO2 is accelerating with the annual mean growth rate for 2007, standing at 2.14ppm. Between 1970 and 2000, the concentration rose by about 1.5ppm each year, but since 2000 the annual rise has leaped to an average 2.1ppm, with last year marking the fourth year in the last six to see an annual rise greater than 2ppm.

Scientists at the Hawaii Observatory that recorded the figures, said that the accelerated growth in carbon dioxide concentrations suggested that as temperatures rise some of the Earth's natural carbon sinks could be losing their ability to absorb the gas.

Environmentalists hailed the report as further evidence that far deeper cuts in emissions are required than many politicians currently accept.

A Friends of the Earth spokeswoman said that the government should now send a "clear signal" to the business community about the seriousness of the latest climate change science and use its upcoming Climate Change Bill to set a target of cutting emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

As part of the Climate Change Bill, the government plans to impose a target of a 60 per cent reduction in emissions by mid-century. However, it has also instructed its newly formed independent climate change committee to assess the latest science and decide whether this target should be upgraded to 80 per cent.

Paul Simpson, chief operating officer of the Carbon Disclosure Project, said that all businesses should be planning for a minimum reduction in emissions of 60 per cent by 2050. However, he added that as the public begins to sees the effects of global warming, pressure on regulators for more ambitious targets will increase and as such there is now a very real likelihood that a legally binding 80 per cent cut will be imposed. "Going forward, businesses should definitely prepare for the carbon crunch," he said.

Many firms remain ill-prepared for such an eventuality, according to Simpson, who cited a recent report from banking giant Citi, which found that of the largest 120 companies in Europe around half had no reduction targets and those that did, mostly had lower targets than the EU goal of cutting carbon by 60 per cent by mid-century.

The calls for more stringent carbon regulations came in the same week as business leaders were advised to step up efforts to adapt to the effects of climate change, after two further reports warned that rising temperatures and loss of habitat are already having a catastrophic impact on the biosphere.

A new study from WWF found that over a quarter of all individual animals, birds and fish on the planet have disappeared since 1970 as a direct result of human activities and as a result there is now little change of a UN target to slow the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 being met.

The report was followed by a new paper in the journal Nature, which studied hundreds of reports on biodiversity and wildlife populations and found that at least 90 per cent of environmental damage caused since 1970 could be explained by climbing temperatures.

In particular, the report highlighted the enormous impact on wildlife populations being had by changing patterns in water availability, whereby greater levels of spring melt water drive up river and lake levels in the spring only to be followed by a higher incidence of drought in the summer months.

James Griffiths, managing director of the ecosystems focus area at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) said that there was an urgent need for businesses to understand the large extent to which their success depends on ecosystems and the role they play in underpinning biodiversity.

He advocated an approach that sees businesses put a financial price on natural systems. "Business benefits from nature are known as "ecosystems services" and if managed with care, they represent enormous value to businesses and their shareholders," he said.

CBI head of climate change Rhian Kelly agreed that firms needed to increase their long-term planning and bolster their risk management policies to take greater account of climate change and its knock on impacts on weather patterns, water scarcity, flooding risks and biodiversity loss.