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Sierra Club finds "silver lining" in climate report

U.N. report blames fossil fuels for increase in emissions.

By Daniel J. Graeber
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, right, addresses the media at the launch of the Synthesis Report of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Nov. 2, 2014, in Copenhagen, Denmark. UN Photo/Amanda Voisard
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, right, addresses the media at the launch of the Synthesis Report of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Nov. 2, 2014, in Copenhagen, Denmark. UN Photo/Amanda Voisard

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The "silver lining" to a U.N. report on climate change is that deploying more renewable energy is affordable, the executive director of the Sierra Club said.

A weekend report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found emissions of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, from the combustion of fossil fuels accounted for 78 percent of the total emissions increase from 1970 to 2010.

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Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, says the IPCC is clear that the global addiction to "dirty fossil fuels" is having global consequences.

"The silver lining to the report is that it recognizes clean energy climate solutions are affordable and ready to deploy," he said in a statement Sunday.

The IPCC report said warming trends could slow under a scenario in which renewable energy grows from roughly 30 percent of the energy share to 80 percent by 2050.

"Substantial emissions reductions over the next few decades can reduce climate risks in the 21st century and beyond, increase prospects for effective adaptation, reduce the costs and challenges of mitigation in the longer term, and contribute to climate-resilient pathways for sustainable development," the report says.

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For the U.S. economy, Secretary of State John Kerry said the IPCC report is a "another canary in the coal mine."

President Barack Obama in September said "nobody gets a pass" on joining the fight against climate change.

In July, the president outlined a series of initiatives on climate issues, including a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on the health hazards of climate change, a $236 million investment on rural energy infrastructure from the Department of Agriculture and a call from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for state responses to climate variability.

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