Hervé Le Treut

The French climatologist Hervé Le Treut is in charge of the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute which is made up of several environmental research laboratories. He is part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a climate specialist.

Summary / Synopsis
Stop Paying the Polluters
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Thawing of Permafrost Expected to Cause Significant Additional Global Warming, Not yet Accounted for in Climate Predictions
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Governments need to urgently identify how ambition can be raised on climate
[UNEP, 21/11/2012]
 
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Sovereign Environmental Risk
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Rio+20 : reacting peacefully and democratically to future crises
[Hervé Le Treut, 20/06/2012]
Rio+20 : reacting peacefully and democratically to future crises The French climatologist Hervé Le Treut is in charge of the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute which is made up of several environmental research laboratories. He is part of the Intergovernmental Panel... Suite
Mountain forests under threat
[FAO, 09/12/2011]
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Fossil fuel or modern slavery ?
[Jean François Mouhot, 06/12/2011]
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Climate change measures must be made corruption proof
[Transparency International, 30/04/2011]
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Did Cancun Prove the UN Irrelevant in Tackling Climate?
[Fred Pearce, 16/12/2010]
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Seeing REDD on Climate Change
[George Soros, 12/12/2010]
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What to expect from the Cancun climate change conference
[Denis Loyer, 24/11/2010]
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A Hard Look at the Perils and Potential of Geoengineering
[Jeff Goodell, 01/04/2010]
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What’s Killing the Great Forests of the American West?
[Jim Robbins, 15/03/2010]
What’s Killing the Great Forests of the American West? Jim Robbins is a veteran journalist based in Helena, Montana. He has written for the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and numerous other publications. His fifth book, The Forgotten Forest, about... Suite
The Secret of Sea Level Rise: It Will Vary Greatly by Region
[Michael D. Lemonick, 22/03/2010]
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Climate change’s secret weapon
[Khadija Sharife is a South African journalist. She is also an activist and a scholar at the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and a contributing author to the Tax Justice Network., 27/02/2010]
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Why scientists must be the new climate sceptics
[New Scientist, 04/03/2010]
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Tabloid Climate Science
[Prem Shankar Jha, 11/02/2010]
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Overcoming the Copenhagen Failure
[Joseph E. Stiglitz, 06/01/2009]
Overcoming the Copenhagen Failure Joseph Eugene Stiglitz a reçu le prix Nobel d’économie en 2003. Il a travaillé pendant des années à la Banque mondiale. Il est aussi connu pour ses ouvragest : Quand le capitalisme perd la tête et La... Suite
The UN to the Rescue on Climate Change
[Michel Rocard, 20/12/2010]
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Copenhagen - Historic failure that will live in infamy
[Joss Garman, 20/12/2009]
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Copenhagen is not the end of a noble idea
[Olivier Milhomme, 21/12/2009]
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Copenhagen: Seattle Grows Up
[Naomi Klein, 13/11/2009]
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350, a world climate initiative
[Jacques Mirenowicz, 21/10/2009]
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Why Cutting Carbon Emissions is not Enough
[Achim Steiner, 01/09/2009]
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Coral Reef Emergency and Copenhagen
[Pavan Sukhdev, 01/09/2009]
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From Carbon Insolvency to Climate Dividends
[Claus Leggewie, 20/08/2009]
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America turns red, white and green
[New Scientist, 03/08/2009]
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Methane controls before risky geoengineering, please
[New Scientist, 25/06/2009]
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Seeing REDD in the Amazon: a win for people, trees and climate
[Virgilio Viana, 15/03/2009]
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The Failed State of US Climate Change Policy
[George Monbiot, The guardian, 26/06/2009]
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Doing Better on Climate Change
[Bjørn Lomborg, 25/05/2009]
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A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
[George Monbiot, The guardian, 16/03/2009]
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The climate freeloaders: emerging nations need to act
[Fred Pearce, The guardian, 29/01/2009]
The climate freeloaders: emerging nations need to act Fred Pearce is journalist specialized in the environment and development. He was born in the United Kingdom and studied geography in the University of Cambridge. His latest book is When the Rivers... Suite
Media can help fight climate change in Africa
[Patrick Luganda, 24/01/2007]
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Why should Finance Ministers worry about climate change?
[Angel Gurria, 08/12/2008]
Why should Finance Ministers worry about climate change? Born on May 8th, 1950, in Tampico, Mexico, Angel Gurría is OECD Secretary-General, since June 2006. He was Mexico’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from December 1994 to January 1998, and Mexico’s... Suite
Focus on deforestation in the climate-energy negociations
[Olivier BOUYER, 31/12/2008]
Focus on deforestation in the climate-energy negociations Olivier BOUYER est Ingénieur du Génie Rural, des Eaux et Forêts. Il a participé à la conférence de Poznan (en 2008) avec la délégation française comme chargé de mission “effet de serre et forêt””... Suite
Changing the climate debate
[Kevin Watkins, 11/11/2007]
 
Kevin Watkins is director of the Human Development Report Office (HDRO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Suite
Climate of Fear, Global-Warming Alarmists Intimidate Dissenting Scientists into Silence
[Richard Lindzen, 01/04/2006]
 
Richard Lindzen is a professor of meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is known for his work in dynamic meteorology, particularly ocean-atmosphere interaction. Lindzen... Suite
How can we avert dangerous climate change
[James Hansen, 26/04/2007]
 
James Hansen is the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and teaches in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Columbia. Mr Hansen, best known for... Suite
Bjørn Lomborg, Tintin in the World of Ecology
[Olivier Godard, 01/01/2003]
Bjørn Lomborg, Tintin in the World of Ecology Olivier Godard is currently a research director of economics at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). In 1998 he joined the econometrics laboratory, part of the École... Suite

Rio+20 : reacting peacefully and democratically to future crises

20/06/2012 11:46 am

Hervé Le Treut, scientist and member of IPCC, talks about 20 years of climate science.

Since the first Rio summit, what changes have occurred climate-wise?

In 1992, scientific results that indicated global warming were based on physical models that were still simple. These results were confirmed by many more precise studies and the climate itself is now evolving perfectly in line with the forecasts. But the outlook is bleak: the 2°C temperature rise the international community has pledged not to exceed could be reached by 2050.

How do you explain that in spite of the accumulated scientific proof, there are still so many people who doubt climate change?

Of course, there are lobbies linked to economic or political players who regard this scientific diagnosis as a barrier to their activities. There are also a lot of people who are frightened by these expected changes, those who don’t want to be blamed and those who fall into both categories: they prefer to ignore warnings and listen to messages that allay their fears. Anyway, we must avoid unnecessary debates in favour of necessary ones. As regards the evolution of climate change, there are certainties as well as uncertainties; we are thus faced with difficult choices. China is now the world’s biggest polluter.

What effect will this have on the planet?

The rapid growth of emerging countries has given a new twist to the problem. Admittedly, a Chinese pollutes half as much as a European and an Indian pollutes it even less: how can we deprive them of the growth we ourselves have attained with little hindrance? But they are collectively leading to a new wave of increased greenhouse gas emissions even though these emissions need to be reduced. In the face of inevitable climate change, we shall have to develop adaptation strategies.

Do you have any particular expectations for the Rio + 20 summit?

I think that a certain form of enthusiasm and innocence has disappeared in the 20 years since Rio. How can we separate the climate problem from political and social demands, energy constraints, the will to protect biodiversity and feeding the planet? Will Rio + 20 help in producing a new form of governance adapted to such complex challenges ? Without firm answers to these questions, we may face more disappointments.

What are the challenges for RIO+40 in the next 20 years?

By the time Rio + 40 comes round, we will most likely have already faced new crisis situations. In terms of the climate - heat waves, droughts, melting ice - but also in other related areas such as the increased cost of energy. The challenge in the coming decades will be to react to these crises peacefully and democratically.