A NEW coalition of international business, trade unions, research and environmental organizations urged the Group of 20 nations (G-20) to make good their pledges to accelerate the transition to a green economy and secure a visionary global deal on climate change.

 The Green Economy Coalition warned in an open letter published today that G-20 nations are failing to match their rhetoric with action, are delaying the transition to sustainable development and are promoting climate change through their subsidies for fossil-fuel production and consumption, the  International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) said in a press release.

The coalition called on G-20 nations “to honor aid commitments and provide new funds to enable developing nations to shift to sustainable development pathways,” the press release said.

 The coalition “will be focusing on the policy changes needed to transform the global economy into one that is clean, green and equitable,” the press release added.

As this developed, 40 of the world’s leading climate scientists urged global leaders, through an open letter, to take bolder action against climate change.

The scientists’ joint statement called for industrialized countries to make a commitment at the UN Climate summit in Copenhagen in December to cut carbon emissions by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, the IIED said in another press release.

The move was initiated by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) and endorsed by recognized climate luminaries, such as Sir John Houghton, former chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The panel won the Nobel Peace prize in 2008 together with former US Vice President Al Gore.

The scientists said the Copenhagen climate targets “must be more ambitious.”

They said that at the Copenhagen climate change conference in December, world leaders have the opportunity to agree to a “historic global climate deal.”

“To avoid dangerous climate change, the deal must be based on the most up-to-date scientific understanding of the emissions reductions required, with obligations divided equitably between developed and developing countries,” the scientists’ statement reads. This means that developed countries must reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, it added.

 “Copenhagen represents our best chance to avert the worst impacts of climate change on people, species and ecosystems,” it noted.

It said more than 120 countries, including the members of the Group of 8, the EU, and key emerging economies, such as China, South Africa and Mexico, have agreed that the rise in global temperature must stay well below 2°C.

“Beyond this point climate impacts will be more severe, with the risk of crossing ‘tipping points’ with dangerous and irreversible effects,” the statement said.

 To stand a good chance of achieving this goal, it cited the last IPCC report (2007) that recommended that developed countries should reduce emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent on 1990 levels by 2020.

“Yet more recent evidence shows that only reductions at the top end of this range will be sufficient to avoid the worst impacts of climate change,” it said.

Developed countries have committed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by only 10 percent to 16 percent by 2020, “a level dangerously inconsistent with their commitment to the 2°C target,” it said.

“The latest scientific evidence clearly shows that these countries must increase their ambition and reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2020 to maintain a credible ambition of avoiding dangerous climate change,” the scientists said.

Saleemul Huq, one of the signatories, IPCC author and Senior Fellow in the Climate Change Group at the IIED, said: “The scientific evidence now indicates that even a rise in temperature of 2 degrees Celsius [C] will entail considerable hardships for poor and vulnerable people around the world, especially those living on low-lying islands and coasts.

“So a 40-percent reduction in emissions is the very least required to provide a better chance of avoiding devastation for these countries and communities.”

WWF’s head of climate change, Keith Allott, said: “As the UK government rallies the EU to step up to the mark ahead of Copenhagen, it’s time for [UK Prime Minister] Gordon Brown and other world leaders to turn words into action.”

Dr. Dave Reay, one of the signatories, IPCC contributor and senior lecturer in Carbon Management, Edinburgh University, said: “The scientific evidence of climate change from around the world is providing a clear and urgent call for action.

“If we are to be successful in preventing the worst impacts of climate change then world leaders from the industrialized nations must commit to reducing emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020. The meeting in Copenhagen later this year is hugely important in putting the world on a path that leads us away from dangerous climate change.”

The WWF says key meetings that will shape the global climate deal take place in coming weeks, including the UN General Assembly in New York and the G-20 Heads of State meeting in Pittsburgh.

Campaigners say it is important that the politicians attending take note of such timely advice from the world’s scientific community.

The Green Economy Coalition letter has been signed by the heads of Consumers International, the Inspire Foundation for Business and Society, International Trade Union Confederation, WWF International, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Global Reporting Initiative, Ecologic Institute, Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD, Bellagio Forum for Sustainable Development, IISD-Europe, the Center for Human Ecology and the UN Environment Program’s Green Economy Initiative.

The group said it would grow to include about 20 core members in addition to associate members that join specific activities.

“The Green Economy Coalition promotes equitable and resilient economies which provide a better quality of life for all, within the ecological limits of one planet,” said Sally Jeanrenaud of IIED. “We have a unique opportunity today to refocus the world economy by investing in green sectors for a fairer and more sustainable future.”

The coalition is hosted by the London-based IIED. L. Resurreccion