LONDON – Two British Cabinet ministers showed off a doomsday vision of disappearing cities and rising seas on Thursday, part of an effort to push nations to strike a new pact on curbing emissions of global warming gasses.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband and his brother, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, published an online map detailing the predicted impact of a 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) rise in global temperatures.
Ed Milband said the map, which was prepared by scientists at the British Meteorological Office, shows that the "stakes couldn't be higher" as nations prepare for a December summit in Denmark. The Copenhagen meeting aims to strike agreement on new action to limit temperature rises as a result of climate change to 2 degrees Celsius.
Britain has pledged to cut carbon dioxide emissions by at least 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050.
"With less than 50 days left before agreement must be reached, the U.K.'s going all out to persuade the world of the need to raise its ambitions so we get a deal that protects us from a 4 degree world," Ed Miliband said.
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On the web: http://www.actoncopenhagen.decc.gov.uk/4degrees
