In today’s report from the World Economic Forum at Davos in the New York Times, some quotes:
Leaders in Davos Urge Quick Action to Alter the Effects of Climate Change
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At a panel discussion on Friday, world leaders including Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations, held a public discussion titled “Tackling Climate, Development and Growth.”
Ms. Lagarde sounded the alarm about rising global temperatures. “We are at risk of being grilled, fried and toasted,” she said.
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Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, said that the increased dialogue about climate change was a victory in itself.
“Everyone is talking about the urgency, the risk,” he said. “This a big step in itself. The next big step is you need to do it.”
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But time is running out before the effects of climate change become irreversible, the panelists said.
“We have to go very quickly,” said Michael Spence, professor of economics at the New York University Stern School of Business. “We have a window of a very small number of years after which we cannot win the battle to mitigate fast enough to meet the safety goals.”
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“We do need a price for carbon,” said Paul Polman, chief executive of Unilever, who was also on the panel. “If you don’t price what you value, you don’t get people to react. That’s unfortunately our financial system.”
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“The next generation will look to us and ask if we did all we could?” said Mr. Sijbesma, the DSM chief executive. “And if not, why didn’t we do anything about it.”
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Nicolas Moreau, chief executive of Axa, the French financial group, said the frequency of flash floods and other violent weather was causing his company to pay out more insurance claims. Amid a series of storms in September, Axa was paying out $20 million in claims each weekend.
“We are observing an acceleration of these events,” Mr. Moreau said.
“Five years ago people ware still on the fence about whether this was a real risk,” Mr. Moreau said. “Now people are taking it more seriously, and accepting that this is a risk they have to confront.”
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That’s wasn’t the porn part. This was it:
Yet despite the increase discussion about climate change here, the most concrete action to tackle the problem to come out of the World Economic Forum is a pop concert.
Al Gore, the former vice president of the United States, and the singer Pharrell Williams announced a Live Earth concert aimed to galvanize calls for action on climate change. … The purpose of the event will be to galvanize public support for a broad climate deal in Paris.
But despite the excitement surrounding the concert and the best efforts of business leaders, scientists remain pessimistic.
At a sparsely attended news conference in the basement of the Congress Center, where the World Economic Forum is held, new data was presented that once again painted a dire picture of the effects of climate change.
“This is a decisive year for humanity,” said Johan Rockström, executive director of the Stockholm Resilience Center. “The global economy itself is disrupting the planetary ecological system.”
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