On the 10th of December the Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to co-laureates, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Al Gore, at the prize-giving ceremony in Oslo, Norway. Bert Metz, co-chair of the IPCC working group III on mitigation of climate change, will be in Oslo for the ceremony. Metz is senior scientist at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

According to Metz, ‘preventing climate change is both feasible and affordable’ 

‘From the IPCC reports’, he says, ‘it is clear that most of the problems related to climate change can be overcome through the use of existing technologies. For example, we can use energy more efficiently, generate renewable energy and equip coal-fired power plants with installations for the collection and removal of CO2. This will mean decreasing the amount of CO2 by 30%, making the reduction (the Dutch cabinet’s target) of greenhouse gases in 2020 feasible – an essential step towards managing climate change in the long term. Costs to limit the average temperature rise of CO2 to 2 degrees Centigrade will also be affordable. We are concerned here with a few percentage points of the global gross domestic product in 2040.’

Nobel Prize committee links climate change to armed conflict

The UN Climate Panel and Al Gore were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in systematically collecting and distributing the knowledge on climate change. In doing so, they have laid the foundations for combating climate change. More than half the world’s population live in areas that are vulnerable to changes in climate. Failing to take measures will make such consequences as large floods, stronger hurricanes, heat waves and droughts a real threat. This leads to reduced agricultural yields in food crops, an increase in diseases and extinction of plant and animal species, for example. Furthermore, climate change poses a direct threat to the existence of billions of people, most of them in developing countries. It is exactly this type of situation that leads to armed conflict and mass movements of refugees. The Nobel Prize Committee thus acknowledges both the UN Climate Panel and Al Gore for their substantial contributions to conflict prevention through climate change prevention.

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The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP) supports national and international policymakers by analysing the impacts of societal trends and policies on the environment. We provide independent integrated assessments on topics such as sustainable development, energy and climate change, biodiversity, transport, land use and air quality. The MNP acts as the interface between science and policy. 
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• to the website of IPCC Working Group III