UN climate panel chairman Rajendra Pachauri today said the panel’s erroneous forecast that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035 had not hurt its credibility and that he had no intention of resigning. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had earlier this week conceded that its fourth assessment report had without substantiation predicted that most of the Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035 because of climate change. “It was...

Indian geologists who had two months ago accused a UN climate science agency of misleading the world with alarmist predictions about Himalayan glaciers have now said they stand vindicated. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has launched an exercise to find out how its fourth assessment report issued nearly three years ago contained a prediction that most of the Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035. “We’re looking into it. We’re...

The outcome of the historic climate change negotiations in Copenhagen hinges on the issues of emissions reductions and financing, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today as he urged world leaders to use the final days of the talks to strike an ambitious new agreement. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found that to stave off the worst effects of climate change, industrialized countries must slash greenhouse...

As one of its first steps towards reducing its greenhouse gas footprint, the United Nations – after one of the most wide-ranging and painstaking exercises in its history – announced today that it emits 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide annually worldwide. That amount, more than half of which is generated by peacekeeping operations, represents just 3.3 per cent of emissions generated by New York City, the host city of...

People around the world can now keep tabs on countries’ promises and proposals on combating climate change, thanks to a new online tool launched today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Climate Pledge Tracker was launched today in Copenhagen, Denmark, where nations are currently meeting with the aim of agreeing on an ambitious new agreement. The new programme will be updated as new proposals are made in the...