BANGKOK (AP): International delegates agreed Friday that the world has the technology and money to limit catastrophic global warming, but that it must act now to reduce the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions.
Promptly adopting biofuels, renewable energy sources, greater energy efficiency and other steps can mitigate worldwide disaster, according to a report adopted by government-appointed delegates from more than 120 countries at a conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
Coming out of the meeting early Friday, delegates said science appeared to have trumped politics - especially opposition from China, which wanted language inserted allowing for a greater buildup of greenhouse gases in the environment before action would be taken.
Beijing and its supporters had argued moves to make deep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions risked stifling its spectacular economic growth, delegates said.
According to a partial version of the final document obtained by The Associated Press, China's efforts failed to remove mention of a stringent emission target from the report. The Chinese delegation could not be reached for comment.
The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. network of 2,000 scientists, makes plain that the world must act immediately to cap the global temperature increase at 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over preindustrial-age levels.
"It's all done," said Peter Lukey, a member of the South Africa delegation. "Everything we wanted to see was there and more. The message is: We have to do something now."
The week long meeting in Bangkok by delegates from more than 120 countries was contentious as they bickered over how the share the burden of cutting emissions, how much such measures would cost, and how much weight to give certain policy measures, such as advanced nuclear power, an option supported by the United States.
"This is still an excellent report," French delegate Michel Petit said, adding that China and the other developing countries ended up compromising on all major issues. "Nothing important was removed during the process."
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