The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will meet in Berlin to chart ways in which the world can cut greenhouse gas emissions, one of the most important problem in the current climate framework, trying to give estimates on how much it would cost. There is a significant consensus that global warming is certainly caused by human actions and poses a serious threat to humanity. The UN expert panel on climate is strongly trying to achieve concrete solution in order to understand what the international community has to do. According to the previous IPCC’s report of a landmark climate assessment, it is fundamental to invest more in the renewable energies, cutting investments on fossil fuels, that are the principal source of man-made carbon emissions. This report outlines various solutions and proposals such as the use of wind energy and solar energy, and a better energy efficiency, analyzing at the same time their costs and benefits. Moreover, the IPCC will discuss about the necessary amount of global cuts needed to meet the proposed targets. Following the results of the report sent to governments in December, emissions need to decrease by 40-70 percent by 2050 in order to keep global temperature increasing below 2 degrees by the end of the century, which is the agreed goal of international climate talks. As shown in the draft, the investments in fossil fuels such as oil and coal would have to drop by $30 billion a year, and the spending on renewable energies would have to rise up to $147 billion annually. These findings could provoke the opposition of the fossil fuel industry and countries depending on it, as the reaction of some industries shows. This reaction of the industry is in contrast with a point of view of UN. According to UN the ¾ of the fossil fuel reserves in the ground needs to be kept there for the world to reach the 2-degree target. The principal goal is to achieve a global economy as carbon neutral as possible. An alternative strategy to mitigate the climate change would use new ways to catch carbon from the atmosphere or prevent the sunlight , trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases. This process is known as geo-engineering, that means a large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climatic system with aim of reducing global warming. Many scientistsbelieve that such plans are unlikely going to work – which is a doubt shared by the IPCC. Opponentsstresses the possible effects from geo-engineering that could include a change in the monsoon pattern or a widening of the ozone hole that could threaten the lives of millions. The IPCC has also highlighted that climate change has certainly caused damages on economies, crops and human health. The study also stresses the important matter of the costs associated with the strategies to keep warming below 2 degrees of Celsius. One of the most controversial issue of the international debate is represented by the matter about who should pay for efforts to curb climate change. This question is a turning point of the UN negotiations on a new global climate agreement, set to be adopted by 2015. Poor countries require more financial help from rich countries, in order to switch to low-carbon energy sources. Data show that although China has the world's highest carbon emissions, West which underwent a stronger industrialization earlier has historically pumped more carbon into the atmosphere. In this framework, it is fundamental to achieve adequate policies considering their important cost and impact on society in the future, at the same time. The gLAWcal Team Thursday, 10 April 2014 (Source: RenewableEnergyWorld)