"Policy-neutral" IPCC chief Pachauri again advocates for climate policies

The Global Challenge of Climate Change - AlertNet

[from the caption of a picture of Pachauri] A distinguished scientist, Dr. Pachauri has been at the forefront of the battle against climate change since years...
[Pachauri] while adaptation is essential at the local level, mitigation of emissions of greenhouse gases at the global level would have to be an important part of the strategy to deal with the challenge of climate change.

The attractiveness of mitigation action lies largely in the substantial co-benefits which include higher energy security, lower levels of pollution at the local level with consequent health benefits and higher agricultural yields. It is also relevant to observe that a large number of low cost or even no cost opportunities exist for mitigating emissions of greenhouse gases. In the AR4 it was indicated that mitigation opportunities with net negative cost have the potential to reduce emissions by about 6 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent per year in 2030. However, realizing these requires dealing with implementation barriers. It was also found that the economic mitigation potential, which is generally greater than the market mitigation potential, can only be achieved when adequate policies are in place and barriers removed. It is important for human society to now focus on removal of these barriers, for which the first step would be to create awareness on the scientific realities of climate change.