Moritz Leuenberger: the IPCC is the Driving Force of Climate Policy

Bern, 31.08.2008 - In the view of Federal Counsellor Moritz Leuenberger, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the driving force of international climate policy. During an address at the ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the IPCC, attended by Mr Bank Ki-moon and Mr Rajendra K. Pachauri, the Head of the Swiss Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications praised the work and independence of the IPCC. He also presented Switzerland’s now official proposal for an international tax mechanism for financing adaptation to climate warming.

Moritz Leuenberger noted that in order to take decisions that will be binding on all states in the long term, the states need serious data. It was the work of the IPCC in summarising the international scientific community's knowledge and expertise on climate that convinced the governments to establish the United Nations Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.

For Moritz Leuenberger, the IPCC is the driving force of international climate policy, a motor that runs on reason, emitting figures, diagrams and plausible scenarios on climate evolution. Mr Leuenberger praised the sobriety and probity of the work of the IPCC which is regularly confronted with the individual interests of pressure groups and attempts to cast doubt on the man's responsibility for climate warming.

The motor of the IPCC runs on reason rather than the selfish and primitive instincts that slumber in every one of us, asserted Moritz Leuenberger. It goes against all good sense to continue to heat the planet and suffer the consequences. The cost to future generations in both human and financial terms is not acceptable either. The IPCC should be supported by all states so that it can continue to avail of the time and independence necessary for its work.

At the end of his address Moritz Leuenberger stated that the IPCC's consistent work in enlightening us about climate change and explaining it to us allows us to hope that all world leaders will combine reason and commitment in this area. He also referred to the candidature of Professor Thomas Stocker, Director of the Institute of Climate and Environmental Physics at the University of Bern for the position of Co-Chair of the IPCC's Working Group 1 which deals with scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change. Switzerland would be honoured if one of its citizens were to assume such a responsibility and if it were to be enabled to provide even greater support to the IPCC in this way, he said. 

Switzerland's proposal for financing adaptation

Moritz Leuenberger also referred to the fact that Switzerland has proposed a new tax mechanism at international level for the financing of adaptation to climate change. The states would pay a levy on their emissions of greenhouse gases - to be differentiated in accordance with their level of development. Each state would have a quantity of CO2 exempt from the levy equivalent to 1.5 tonne of CO2 per inhabitant. This threshold corresponds to the total global emissions which must not be exceeded at the end of the century if we wish to avoid a serious deterioration in the climate system. Each country would be allowed to retain a part of the revenue from this tax for the implementation of national adaptation measures. The remainder - also to be differentiated in accordance with levels of development - would be paid into a global adaptation fund exclusively earmarked for countries with low or average per-capita incomes.

This proposal, which was approved by the Swiss Federal Council in July 2008, was presented by Switzerland at the climate negotiations in Accra (Ghana) which ended  on 27 August. It will also figure among the options to be examined in the negotiations on the future international climate regime between now and the end of 2009.


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