HOUSTON - Rajendra Pachauri said he thought he was "walking
into the lion's den" on Tuesday when he told oil executives they need to take a
lead in cutting greenhouse gas emissions in order to save the earth.
Pachauri, chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice
President Al Gore, said the oil industry has been both lion and lamb when it
comes to seeing the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions to prevent global
warming.
"It's a very mixed response," Pachauri said on the sidelines
of the CERA Week Energy Conference held at the heart of the US oil industry in
Houston.
"I was very struck by (Cono-coPhillips Chief Executive) Jim
Mulva's presentation when he talked about the pressure that the public is going
to put on legislators and on companies," Pachauri said. "And those who do not
accept that reality will face a huge reputational risk."
Mulva on Tuesday told the conference that the US government
should enact climate change policies that would tie into programs abroad. Mulva
also said the petroleum industry must cut greenhouse gas emissions and that
those in it "no longer have the luxury of standing on the sideline."
Pachauri noted Europe's BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have
long said emissions must be cut.
"They have been several years ahead of what you see over
here," Pachauri said. "There are others who are still apparently not convinced
that something needs to be done. So it's a mixed picture."
Pachauri, 67, said he will make a decision in "two or three
weeks" whether he will run for another term as IPCC chairman. He joked that the
IPCC could be dissolved since "captains of industry" are having the same
discussions on climate change.
The IPCC issued its fourth assessment of climate change three
months ago, saying greenhouse gas emissions - mainly carbon dioxide - must begin
to fall by 2015 to avoid dire consequences from seas rising to droughts and
agriculture production declines.
Pachauri said fossil fuel combustion accounts for 70 percent
of global greenhouse gas emissions. Without policy changes by industry and
governments, that figure will rise by about 50 percent by 2020. He said burning
coal will account for the biggest share of that global emissions increase.
Business interests including major US oil companies will cut
emissions, he said, adding that he hopes they see the financial rationale now to
help global emissions start to drop in 2015.
A major reason for this hope is that a price for carbon will
soon be set by carbon trading or caps, setting a clear market signal, Pachauri
said.
"The world will be moving to a low-carbon future, therefore
companies that take the lead will meet with success in both business and in the
eyes of society," Pachauri said.
"Those who don't will be left behind. I think that's becoming more and more
apparent. Business in the future will be dominated by concerns related to
production of greenhouse gas emissions."
