The European Commission has warned that the effects of global warming may have been underestimated.

Brussels said that aviation and shipping must be taken into account in setting ambitious emission reduction targets. It said negotiators at global talks this year in Copenhagen for a successor to the Kyoto pact should be ready to consider deeper, costlier cuts. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas gives an idea of the bill: “To achieve all these goals, a major scaling up of private and public finance and investment is going to be necessary worldwide. Additional international investment for mitigation will need to reach around 175 billion euros per year in 2020, over half of this for developing countries.” The effects of climate change are predicted to include a heavy drain on water supplies, a dusty future for farming, worse forest fires and devastating changes for ecosystems. A new study in America carries a sad forecast for the penguins.More about: global warming

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