The Inconvenient Truth about Climate Statistics

By Jane Ellis, Jan Corfee-Morlot, Katia Karousakis, Bruno Guay
OECD Environment Directorate
The year 2007 was a breakthrough in many ways regarding climate change. In
terms of the science, the report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) indicated that “warming of the climate system is
unequivocal” and that there is “very high confidence” that human activities
have led to this warming. In terms of public awareness, awarding the 2007
Nobel Peace Prize to jointly to the IPCC and to former US vice-president Gore
for his climate change film “The Inconvenient Truth” raised public
consciousness of the issue of climate change - and what can be done to mitigate
it. Finally, in terms of international climate change politics, a breakthrough was
achieved at the climate change negotiations at the end of 2007, with all
countries agreeing to a “Bali Action Plan”.