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Science 12 December 2003:
Vol. 302. no. 5652, pp. 1923 - 1925
DOI: 10.1126/science.1090858
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The Challenge of Long-Term Climate Change

K. Hasselmann,1,2* M. Latif,3 G. Hooss,4 C. Azar,5 O. Edenhofer,1,6 C. C. Jaeger,1,6 O. M. Johannessen,1,7 C. Kemfert,1,4 M. Welp,1,6 A. Wokaun1,8

Climate policy needs to address the multidecadal to centennial time scale of climate change. Although the realization of short-term targets is an important first step, to be effective climate policies need to be conceived as long-term programs that will achieve a gradual transition to an essentially emission-free economy on the time scale of a century. This requires a considerably broader spectrum of policy measures than the primarily market-based instruments invoked for shorter term mitigation policies. A successful climate policy must consist of a dual approach focusing on both short-term targets and long-term goals.

1 European Climate Forum, www.european-climate-forum.net.
2 Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany.
3 Institute of Marine Research, Kiel, Germany.
4 Oldenburg University, Oldenburg, Germany.
5 Chalmers University of Technology, Göteberg, Sweden.
6 Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany.
7 Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center/Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
8 Paul Scherrer Institut, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich, Switzerland.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: klaus.hasselmann{at}dkrz.de

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