Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control was launched during 2007 in Paris, France.

The Eiffel Tower’s 20 000 sparkling electric bulbs went dark for five minutes on the eve of the release of the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to mark the occasion. This symbolic gesture acknowledged the unequivocal warning of the report that wide scale global warming was evident and worsening.

Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme, which administers the Panel along with the World Metrological Organisation, remarked that 2 February 2007 will be remembered as the day the question mark was removed from the debate on whether human activities are causing climate change. The major findings of the report, the work of 2 500 Scientists from 113 Countries, are:

• The atmospheric concentration of Carbon Dioxide ---the main greenhouse gas---has risen from about 280 parts per million from pre-industrial levels to 379 parts per million in 2005.
• The 11 years from 1995 to 2005 have ranked among the twelve warmest years since records were introduced in 1850.
• Mountain glaciers and snow cover have declined on average in both hemispheres.
• Planet Earth will warm between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees Centigrade this century.
• Sea level rises will range between 18 to 59 centimetres by 2100.
• There is at least a 90 per cent probability that extremes such as heat waves and heavy rain will become more frequent, and tropical cyclones will become more intense.

The introduction of Earth Hour, by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature) during March every year, is doing much to publicise the battle against climate change. This year was the fourth occasion that Earth Hour was held.

From Sydney Harbour to the world’s tallest tower in Dubai and the ancient pyramids, many major land marks went dark for an hour. Motorists had to cross San Francisco `s Golden Gate Bridge with just their headlights to help them see.
The annual dimming of the lights in locations around the world during Earth Hour was hailed by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as "both a warning and a beacon of hope". In Asia, even the Forbidden City in China’s capital, the world’s largest carbon polluter, joined in.

Was this a defining gesture on the part of the World’s fastest growing economy?

Pieter Rautenbach