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A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
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FROM VOLUME 9, NUMBER 3, MARCH 1996

NEWS...
DELAY EMISSION CUTS?

Item #d96mar100

A paper in the January 18, 1996, issue of Nature promotes the advantages of delaying major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by perhaps 30 years, suggesting that the long-term result will be little different than cutting emissions now, but the overall cost will be much less. (See Prof. Pubs./Of Gen. Interest, this Digest issue--Mar. 1996.) What will surprise many advocates of climate action more than the content of the proposal is the identity of the lead author. Climatologist Tom Wigley of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research is a leading advocate of greenhouse gas emission controls, and a contributor the recent IPCC assessment. In a New Scientist article on the paper (p. 7, Jan. 20), Wigley insists he has not deviated from his previous views, but has merely added a dose of economic and political realism to the IPPC's work. New Scientist also discusses the views of two other major players who dispute the paper's conclusion: economist Michael Grubb of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and John Houghton, chair of the IPCC science working group.