Arctic scientists call for immediate transition to renewable energy. ‘It can’t happen soon enough,’ WWF-Canada says
IQALUIT, Sept. 28, 2016 – Paul Crowley, WWF-Canada’s vice-president of Arctic conservation, is available to comment on the united call by Arctic scientists to immediately upscale and accelerate renewable energy implementation and deep decarbonization of the energy system – to the point of negative emissions – if we want a chance to preserve the Arctic as we know it.
Arctic scientists from around the world made the recommendation in this briefing paper entitled “A 5˚C Arctic in a 2˚C World” ahead of the first Arctic Science Ministerial in Washington, D.C. The science ministers from around the world, including Canada, gathered to address the impact of climate change on the Arctic and what it will mean for the rest of the world.
“We literally have run out of time. If we are not acting within the next few years, then we are committing the Arctic and other global systems to yet another set of changes that are, in essence, irreversible,” said Peter Schlosser, director of research at The Earth Institute at Columbia University, and the lead author of the paper.
Statement from Paul Crowley, WWF-Canada vice-president of Arctic conservation:
“Here in the Canadian Arctic, we are already experiencing the effects of climate change. Permafrost is melting. Sea ice is diminishing. Plant and animal species are moving north, including killer whales, which are being spotted in waters that have never been hospitable to them before. All this puts pressure on species and people who have called the Arctic home for millennia. The changes are happening faster here than the rest of the planet – but that change will be felt far south of the Arctic, too.”
“Making the transition to habitat-friendly renewable energy is a key step in protecting Arctic habitat – including in the Arctic, where spills of diesel used in power generation are particularly harmful and particulate matter from the burning diesel lands on snow and ice and accelerates warming. WWF-Canada is now in discussions for a partnership with the federal and Nunavut governments, local community leaders and the territorial utility to establish community-scale, habitat-friendly renewable energy in the Canadian Arctic. It can’t happen soon enough.”
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