20 Nov 2012

WMO / GREENHOUSE GASES

The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2011, according to a new UN report released today, ahead of the start next week of the latest round of global climate change talks. CH UNTV

Posted at: November 20, 2012 3:10 pm

Duration: 01:59

Available in: SD

DOWNLOAD

Full script

STORY: WMO / GREENHOUSE GASES
    TRT: 1.59
    SOURCE: CH UNTV
    RESTRICTIONS: NONE
    LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 20 NOVEMBER 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations and flags

20 NOVEMBER 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. Wide shot, press room
    3. SOUNDBITE (English) Michel Jarraud, Secretary General World Meteorological Organization (WMO):
    "The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has reached once again a record high in 2011."
    4. Close up, Jarraud
    5. SOUNDBITE (English) Michel Jarraud, Secretary General World Meteorological Organization (WMO):
    "The current concentration of the major anthropogenic greenhouse gases like CO2, like methane, like nitrous oxide are now such that the target of remaining within a two degrees increase is getting increasingly unlikely."
    6. close up, journalist's hands
    7. SOUNDBITE (English) Michel Jarraud, Secretary General World Meteorological Organization (WMO):
    "Between 1990 and 2011, so over the last essentially 20 years, there has been a 30 percent increase in radiative forcing. An increase in radiative forcing means an increase in the temperature.  It's what causes a warming effect on our climate."
    8. Med shot, Jarraud
    9. SOUNDBITE (English) Michel Jarraud, Secretary General World Meteorological Organization (WMO):
    "Some of these gases, in particular CO2, once it's released in the atmosphere will stay there for very, very long times, centuries, even longer.  So even if we were able to stop new emissions tomorrow, and we know it's not feasible, but even if we were able to do that these greenhouse gases which have already been sent in the atmosphere will continue to have an effect for actually centuries."
    10. Wide shot, press room
    11. SOUNDBITE (English) Michel Jarraud, Secretary General World Meteorological Organization (WMO):
    "Carbon dioxide is now about 140 percent pre-industrial levels, methane is nearly 260 percent of the pre-industrial levels and nitrous oxide is about 120 percent pre industrial levels, and it is increasing rapidly."
    12. Med shot, journalist reading report

STORYLINE:

Atmospheric volumes of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change hit a new record in 2011, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin released today (20 November), ahead of the start next week of the latest round of global climate changes talks.

WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud told journalists in Geneva that "the current concentration of the major anthropogenic greenhouse gases like CO2, like methane, like nitrous oxide are now such that the target of remaining within a two degrees increase is getting increasingly unlikely."

Since the start of the industrial era in 1750, about 375 billion tonnes of carbon have been released into the atmosphere as CO2, primarily from fossil fuel combustion, according to the report, which had a special focus on the carbon cycle.

Jarraud said that between 1990 and 2011, there was a 30 percent increase in radiative forcing – the warming effect on the Earth's climate – because of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other heat-trapping long-lived gases.

About half of this carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere, with the rest being absorbed by the oceans and terrestrial biosphere.

Jarraud said that even if we were able to stop new emissions tomorrow, "these greenhouse gases which have already been sent in the atmosphere will continue to have an effect for actually centuries."

The WMO official indicated that "carbon dioxide is now about 140 percent pre industrial levels, methane is nearly 260 percent of the pre industrial levels and nitrous oxide is about 120 percent pre industrial levels, and it is increasing rapidly."

WMO's Global Atmosphere Watch network, spanning more than 50 countries, provides accurate measurements as a basis to understand greenhouse gas concentrations, including their many sources, sinks and chemical transformations in the atmosphere

Greenhouse gases will feature prominently on the agenda of the UN Climate Change Conference that begins in the Qatari capital of Doha on Monday, and which brings together the 195 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.