Climate Change and the Transformation of World Energy Supply
Climate Change and the Transformation of World Energy Supply
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Publication or External Link
Date
1998-02
Authors
Fetter, Steve
Advisor
Citation
Fetter, Steve. "Climate Change and the Transformation of World Energy Supply," SSRC–MacArthur Foundation Program on International Peace and Security Newsletter, Vol. 10 (February 1998), pp. 11–12.
DRUM DOI
Abstract
In December, world attention turned to Kyoto, Japan, where parties to the
Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiated a protocol to reduce the
greenhouse-gas emissions of the industrialized countries by 5 percent over the next
ten to fifteen years. The agreement was attacked from both sides, with
environmental groups claiming that deeper reductions are urgently needed, and
opponents claiming that reductions are unnecessary and would curtail economic
growth.
Both groups are wrong. Immediate, deep reductions are neither necessary nor
politically possible. We must, however, begin today to prepare for the inevitable
reductions that lie ahead. Most especially, we must lay the foundation for a global
transition, beginning in the next ten to twenty years, away from traditional fossil
fuels.