Global .?liIntIte Coalition

9L 1 lil Ave. NW
Snite 1500 North Tower
if no 20004 I 70%
. . 7 i

THE GLOBAL CLIMATE COALITION 

Fax: 202.6 38.1043
Alt. Falx: 202.633l052
Position Statement in Support of Scienti?c and Economic Research

 

The Global Climate Coalition places a high priority on scienti?c and economic research to advance
the understanding Of earth systems. introduce new knowledge into climate models. and re?ne the
tools necessary for decision-making with respect to long-term economic strategies necessary to
address potential climate change.

The understanding of global climate change has evolved signi?cantly over the past decade. Over
just the last ?ve years. as evidenced by a comparison of the ?ndings of the intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change's First and Second Assessment Reports, the net effect of greater knowledge has
been to lower climate change projections of a "business-as-usual" scenario - about a one?third
smaller temperature change and about a one-fourth smaller sea level change is now highlighted in
the IPCC report.

Despite extensive research, the range of uncertainty in key aspects of climate change assessment
remains high. A careful reading of the IPCC's Second Assessment Report indicates many
signi?cant uncertainties remain in the basic science, climate modeling, and economic assessments
of climate change. As noted in the IPCC Working Group I report (Section 8.7), "no study to date
has positively attributed all or part of the [historic temperature] change to anthropogenic causes.
Nor has any study quanti?ed the magnitude of a greenhouse gas effect or aerosol effect in the
observed data--an issue that is of primary relevance to policymakers."

With existing uncertainties in science and potential impacts, society may attempt to protect itself at
an unnecessary high cost against what may be low probability or theoretically possible future
impacts. Resolving uncertainty about the true nature of climate change risk allows for more
ef?cient timing of any necessary mitigation and adaptation policies, and avoids unfounded and
expensive reactions that may ultimately prove unnecessary. As Working Group II of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in its Summary for Policymakers, "The
value of better information about the processes, impacts of and responses to climate change is likely

to be great."

In short, consistently improved and updated information about basic science, modeling, and
potential climate change policies is vital. Critical issues include, but are not limited to: how the
earth's climate systems work, including the role of the oceans, water vapor and clouds; how new and
better knowledge about earth's systems can be incorporated into climate models; how changes in
climate may impact society and ecosystems, particularly at the regional level; how social,
technological and environmental change, as well as adaptation, can be integrated into appropriate
baseline scenarios; and how the potential bene?ts and costs of government policies over an
extended time-frame can be adequately assessed. Private sector and government support for global
climate scienti?c and economic research is necessary to address this complex and evolving issue.

The Global Climate Coalition is an organization of business trade associations and private
companies established in 1989 to coordinate business participation in the scienti?c and policy debate on the
global climate change issue.

[26173: March 1996] 

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