Home > Press releases > 2004 > Human Influence on Climate Change
Dec 2 2004
New research published today [1] shows that scientists are more than 90% confident that human influence at least doubled the risk of last year's European heatwave,
Commenting on the finding, Peter Roderick, Director of the Climate Justice Programme [2] said:
"This shows the strength of the evidence on how human activity is affecting our climate. It is also a significant milestone on the road to establishing liability for climate change damage. Evidence shows that greenhouse gas emissions have increased temperatures globally and regionally. Such evidence is likely to help the courts decide where liability for climate change damage lies."
[1] 'Human contribution to the European heatwave of 2003', Stott, Stone and Allen, Nature 432, 610 - 614 (02 December 2004). Abstract here
[2] The Climate Justice Programme (www.climatelaw.org) is an initiative hosted by Friends of the Earth International. It aims to encourage and support the enforcement of the law internationally to combat climate change in the run up to the start in 2005 of negotiations for further cuts in greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. Over 70 organisations and lawyers are signatories to its Statement of Support, including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, WWF and organizations based in developing countries.
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