(Transcript from World News Radio)
International experts have repeated their call for immediate action to limit global warming.
The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius by 2050 is a tough ask, but it is achievable if drastic changes are made right away.
Thea Cowie reports.
The latest IPCC report says there's a 66-per cent chance global warming can be capped at two degrees celsius by 2050, if annual greenhouse gas emissions are cut by 40 to 70 per cent.
To achieve that, the expert panel says the world needs to triple or quadruple the amount of energy produced from renewable or nuclear sources.
And the IPCC says slashing green house gas emissions would come at a cost: between two and six per cent of Gross Domestic Product in 2050, to be specific.
Australian National University Professor Frank Jotzo is one of the report's co-authors,
He says Australia could feel the cost particularly keenly.
"It's partly because of energy efficiency which is not all that high in Australia, partly because of economic structure whihc is heavy in energy using industries and to a large extent because of the natiure of our energy supply which is very heavy in coal which is the most carbon intesive fuel."
But Professor Jotzo says Australia is well placed to make the switch to low carbon energies, and could actually profit from it.
"The future's quite bright in that regard because Australia has a practically unlimited potential supply of renewable energy - a lot of space for wind energy, for solar energy, also for geo-thermal energy. there's really no technical limits on the amount of energy that can be supplied from zero-carbon sources in Australia and under a scenario of really strong global action that might even put Australia into a comparative position relative to other countries simply because we're not just a coal and fossil fuel super power but we're potentially a renewable energy super power."
Co-chair of the IPCC Ramon Bichs says there's a window of opportunity if the world is to achieve the UN warming limit of two degrees celsius by 2050.
He says if emissions aren't reduced within the next decade, we'll have to rely on technologies to extract greenhouse gasses from the air, which is risky.
"I would say that an an important aspect here is not to let everything to the technology. Of course technologies like biomass and carbon capture or storage could have an important role to play under this condition of delay. But we can say that this is also a risky technology, particularly when not implemented in a sustainabel way and this risk has to do for instance with food security, has to do with health of eco-systems, has to do with water resources."
The latest IPCC report comes amid cutbacks to the national science agency, the CSIRO, and concerns over Australia's capacity to develop low-carbon energies.
After shedding 400 positions in the past year, the CSIRO cut a further 300 jobs on Friday ahead of expected funding cuts in the May budget.
The agency is believed to be preparing to lose as much as 20 per cent of its annual $750-million budget.
Australia's Chief Scientist Ian Chubb has told the A-B-C, reducing the CSIRO's funding could limit Australia's ability to cope with climate change.
"If Australia doesn't learn how to begin to adapt to, or mitigate or even solve some of the issues that will emerge as the climate shifts then we'll be in real trouble and they've devoted quite a bit of attention to that. Do a lot of work in marine - we're surrounded by oceans - and it's very important work. When you think about the trade agreements that have recently been signed, agriculture features pretty prominently in those trade agreements. They've done a lot of work on that too."
Environment Minister Greg Hunt has told Sky News he can't reveal if the CSIRO is being targeted by the Coalition's budget razor-gang.
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"We all have to live within a tight budget constraint because we've inherited a budget nightmare. If you believe in inter-generational equity, one generation shouldn't be stealing from the next and of course that's what's happened, the previous government - the ALP - left us in a situation where you and I were stealing from our children and grandchildren."
The IPCC warns that on present trends the planet will be 3.7 to 4.8 degrees celsius warmer by 2100 - a level scientists say could be catastrophic.
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