Nations must ‘act now’ on climate change

By Fiona Harvey in London
Published: February 12 2009 18:05

Countries must begin adapting to the effects of climate change as a matter of urgency or face serious effects from global warming, a leading industry group warned on Thursday.
Water and sewage infrastructure, the electricity network and transport were all at risk from the effects of climate change, including floods, droughts and severe storms, said the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, an international body for the engineering industry.

It urged governments around the world to face up to the challenge of adapting to the effects of global warming, rather than putting all their efforts into cutting greenhouse gases.
If the world is unsuccessful in cutting greenhouse gases to the extent necessary – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said global emissions must peak by 2015 to 2020 to avoid the worst effects of climate change – then adaptation to more severe and unpredictable weather will be needed.
But if governments leave adaptation measures – ranging from flood defences to changing the design of buildings – for too long, then it will become impossible to put them in place in time to protect vital national infrastructure.
Tim Fox, head of environment and climate change at the IMechE, said: “Yes, we need to mitigate [greenhouse gas emissions], but the evidence shows this isn’t working alone.”
Environmental groups have been reluctant in the past to espouse the cause of adaptation in developed countries, out of concern that it would be seen as a fallback option that would obviate the need for them to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But they have supported allocating funds from rich countries to the developing world in order to help poor countries to adapt to climate change, which they otherwise would not have the funds to do.
However, funds from rich nations have been slow to be agreed under the current Kyoto protocol. Developing nations are hoping to gain more from negotiations currently under way to forge a new agreement by December this year that would replace the current provisions of the protocol, which expire in 2012.
The IMechE identified sea level rises, and an increase in droughts, floods and storms as the main worries arising from global warming. Various measures can be put in place to counteract these effects, ranging from seawalls in some areas to abandoning tracts of land to the sea, and designing transport networks to be more resilient.
Infrastructure that is in use today is likely still to be in use many decades from now, the IMechE pointed out, and so it is important for companies developing such infrastructure today to build the probable effects of climate change into their plans.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009