Climate Change Is a Reality.
Some of its impacts are probably already irreversible. Or so says a report published in early 2009 by the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. It shows that rising ocean levels, lower precipitation and higher temperatures will persist long after we have ceased to emit CO2.
Action is urgently needed, first to halt the rise in world greenhouse gas emissions by 2015, as recommended by the scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), then to cut those emissions in half from 1990 by the year 2050. But how can we do this when electricity is already contributing 40% of the total emissions and world demand for electricity is expected to double by 2030?
To do this, we must use alternatives to fossil fuels, with low CO2 emissions, whenever possible to ensure a balanced and reliable energy mix. We need nuclear energy and hydropower for mass electricity, renewable energies such as wind and sun as make up sources, but also electricity savings notably through more efficient transmission and distribution systems to bring answers to meet the 21st century’s greatest challenges: providing access to energy for all and preserving our planet for future generations.
Michel-Hubert Jamard
Vice President Communications, Nuclear Activities
AREVA
