Global climate deal only 50:50 chance: Flannery

The chances of a global agreement to fight climate change at U.N. talks in Copenhagen in December are only 50:50, said Australia’s leading environmentalist, who warned of “full climactic destabilization” without a pact.

Tim Flannery, chairman of the Copenhagen Climate Council which fosters collaboration between international business and science to fight climate change, said without action in Copenhagen the world faced “runaway” climate change.

“The changes in the climate system are occurring at a very fast rate indeed and our attempts to catch up in terms of our social and economic policy are just not fast enough,” Flannery told Reuters Television in an interview on Tuesday.

“I’m deeply concerned that in the near future we’re facing a runaway situation,” said Flannery, as part of Reuters Climate Change and Alternative Energy Summit.

The U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen aim to reach agreement on a post-Kyoto pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for global warming.

Cooperation between the United States and China, the world’s two biggest polluters, is considered essential for the world to reduce heat-trapping gas emissions.

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