06/05/2013 - The 4th Petersberg Climate Dialogue will begin in Berlin tomorrow. In keeping with the motto "Shaping the future", questions of international climate policy will be discussed in preparation of the next climate conference.
On this occasion, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who will give the Dinner Speech on Monday night:
The Petersberg Climate Dialogue is the attempt to advocate evidence-based decision-making. It is good that the voice of science will be heard, because if you want an evidence-based strategy - don´t ignore the evidence!
The science is complex, but not controversial. In particular we know that more (solar) energy goes into the climate system than is radiated back into space by our planet. The reason for this are the greenhouse gases accumulated in the atmosphere by human activities. This insight will not change with more research.
The evidence is not complete, but compelling. We know that the negative impacts of rapid global warming by several degrees will outweigh the positive ones, and that the risks will increase nonlinearly with global mean temperature. Therefore, all cost-benefit analyses and the precautionary principle justify the political 2° target. Future research might even suggest to tighten that target rather than to relax it.
