Policy actions that aim to reduce CO2 emissions are unlikely to
influence future climate. Policies need to focus on preparation
for, and adaptation to, all dangerous climatic events, however
caused Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United
Nations H.E. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General, United Nations
First Avenue and East 44th Street, New York, New York, U.S.A.
November 29, 2012 On November 9 this year you told the General
Assembly: “Extreme weather due to climate change is the new
normal … Our challenge remains, clear and urgent: to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, to strengthen adaptation to … even
larger climate shocks … and to reach a legally binding climate
agreement by 2015 … This should be one of the main lessons of
Hurricane Sandy.” On November 13 you said at Yale: “The science
is clear; we should waste no more time on that debate.” The
following day, in Al Gore’s “Dirty Weather” Webcast, you spoke
of “more severe storms, harsher droughts, greater floods”,
concluding: “Two weeks ago, Hurricane