Global Warming in the News

Nobel laureate Rajendra Pachauri said climate change is happening right now and the United States needs to be a part of the next agreement to control greenhouse gases.

Pachauri, who earned graduate degrees from N.C. State University in the 1970s, is chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace with former vice president Al Gore.

In comments this afternoon before the state Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change, Pachauri warned that the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceed by far the natural range in the last 650,000 years.

He said even if we stabilize concentrations of carbon at current levels, climate change will continue for several decades, bringing warmer temperatures and rising seas.

"If we delay taking measures, the impact of climate change will become more severe," Pachauri said.

Pachauri addressed the state climate change group before making making a presentation to the Emerging Issues Forum at NCSU. This was his first return to Raleigh since winning the Nobel in December.