10 Dec 2012

Global warming increase confirmed

1:06 pm on 10 December 2012

A report has confirmed that global warming has increased at the rate the United Nations science body predicted it would - 22 years ago.

The ABC reports the finding was issued following the latest climate talks in Doha, which many critics say achieved little.

In 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecast the rate at which temperatures would rise over a period of 40 years.

A report published on Monday in the journal Nature said that at the halfway mark, the rate of warming is consistent with the original predictions.

Professor Matt England from the University of New South Wales said the findings send a message:

"Anybody out there lying that the IPCC projects are overstatements or that the observations haven't kept pace with the projections, is completely off line with this ... the analysis is very clear that the IPCC projections are coming true," he said.

The ABC says the UN talks in Doha had to be extended due to lack of consensus, before almost 200 nations agreed on Saturday to extend the Kyoto protocol till 2020.

Other comment

Australia's climate change minister is rebutting suggestions that extending the life of the Kyoto Protocol is a waste of time.

Greg Combet said in Canberra that renewing Kyoto does not exclude further progress. He said being part of the extended protocol helps work towards a wider international agreement.