Al Gore (in Poznan) calls for tougher global limit on CO2 levels

Al Gore calls for tougher global limit on CO₂ levels

David Adam in Poznan
guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 December 2008 13.25 GMT

Al Gore has called for world governments to significantly strengthen their carbon emission reduction targets in the face of growing evidence that global warming will strike harder and sooner than scientists realised.

Gore, a former US vice president, told UN climate talks in Poznan, Poland that even the most ambitious existing targets would be unable to hold world temperature rise to safe levels.

He called for a new global goal of limiting carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million (ppm) - current levels are already over 380ppm, up from 280ppm before the industrial revolution.

"I call on the people of the world to speak up more forcefully," he said. "We need to focus clearly and unblinkingly on this crisis rather than spending so much time on OJ Simpson, Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith."

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