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Bush aide says warming man-made | Bush aide says warming man-made |
(10 minutes later) | |
The US chief scientist has told the BBC that climate change is now a fact. | The US chief scientist has told the BBC that climate change is now a fact. |
Professor John Marburger, who advises President Bush, said it is more than 90% certain that greenhouse gas emissions from mankind are to blame. | Professor John Marburger, who advises President Bush, said it is more than 90% certain that greenhouse gas emissions from mankind are to blame. |
The Earth may become "unliveable" without cuts in CO2 output, he said, but labelled targets for curbing temperature rise as "arbitrary". | The Earth may become "unliveable" without cuts in CO2 output, he said, but labelled targets for curbing temperature rise as "arbitrary". |
His comments come shortly before major meetings on climate change at the UN and the Washington White House. | His comments come shortly before major meetings on climate change at the UN and the Washington White House. |
There may still be some members of the White House team who are not completely convinced about climate change - but it is clear that the science advisor to the President and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy is not one of them. | |
In a BBC interview, Professor Marburger said climate change was unequivocal, with mankind more than 90% likely to blame. | |
Despite disagreement on the details of climate science, he said: "I think there is widespread agreement on certain basics, and one of the most important is that we are producing far more CO2 from fossil fuels than we ought to be. | |
"And it's going to lead to trouble unless we can begin to reduce the amount of fossil fuels we are burning and using in our economies." | |
Trouble ahead | |
This is an explicit endorsement of the latest major review of climate science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). | This is an explicit endorsement of the latest major review of climate science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). |
Professor Marburger said humanity would be in trouble if we did not stop increasing carbon emissions. | Professor Marburger said humanity would be in trouble if we did not stop increasing carbon emissions. |
"The CO2 accumulates in the atmosphere and there's no end point, it just gets hotter and hotter, and so at some point it becomes unliveable," he said. | "The CO2 accumulates in the atmosphere and there's no end point, it just gets hotter and hotter, and so at some point it becomes unliveable," he said. |
Professor Marburger said he wished he could stop US emissions right away, but that was obviously not possible. | Professor Marburger said he wished he could stop US emissions right away, but that was obviously not possible. |
US backing for the scientific consensus was confirmed by President Bush's top climate advisor, James Connaughton. | |
The chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality told BBC News that advancing technology was the best way to curb the warming trend. | |
"You only have two choices; you either have advanced technologies and get them into the marketplace, or you shut down your economies and put people out of work," he said. | |
"I don't know of any politician that favours shutting down economies." | |
'Arbitrary' targets | |
Mr Bush has invited leaders of major developed and developing nations to the White House later this month for discussions on a future global direction on climate change. | |
It will follow a UN General Assembly session on the same issue. | |
Last week the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Sydney backed the UN climate convention as the right body for developing future global policy. | |
The European Union wants such a policy to adopt its own target of stabilising temperature rise at or below 2C. | |
But Mr Marburger said the state of the science made it difficult to justify any particular target. | |
"It's not clear that we'll be in a position to predict the future accurately enough to make policy confidently for a long time," he said. | |
"I think 2C is rather arbitrary, and it's not clear to me that the answer shouldn't be 3C or more or less. It's a hunch, a guess." | |
The truth, he said, was that we just do not know what the 'safe' limit is. | The truth, he said, was that we just do not know what the 'safe' limit is. |