By Li Hong, People's Daily Online

Beijing is being baked in an unusually scotching summer, with a ferocity the residents seldom have experienced ever before. As we desperately aspire for a breeze of cool, scientists have issued the decimation: The earth is in for decades and perhaps centuries of climbing temperatures, rising sea levels and worsening weather patterns --- unavoidable if the present buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is not curtailed now.

The newly finished Hollywood movie "The Age of Stupid" chides human beings for causing the catastrophe of the planet 50 years later. A futuristic voice of doom in 2055 scolds us for our inertia, irresponsibility and selfishness in doing nothing to curb global warming in the early 21st century. The voice, reviewing a crystal ball retrospective of our deeds, said we had committed a blunder by wrecking havoc to our offspring, and anyhow, human beings have been nothing but suicidal.

Skeptics still exist as to the entangling between concentrations of emission gases in the atmosphere and heating-up of our planet. But increasingly powerful research results done by scientists have pointed to the waste gas as the ultimate culprit. The earth's temperature on average has crept by 0.6 degrees Celsius in the past 20 years. And, it is still climbing.

Now, it is time for all the governments, of those larger greenhouse gas emitters especially – including the United States, European Union, China and India -- to confer regularly, render it over, and board the same boat to take prompt actions, trying to reverse the trend. Scientists and environmentalists believe that it is opportune to head off the catastrophe before the earth is boiling, seafront metropolises get submerged under water, deserts are expanding, and all of us will have become boiled frogs.

Disagreements on who shall bear the lion share of restricting carbon consumption and curbing emissions, and controversy that poverty alleviation of the developing countries might be compromised in a forced bid to fix the damage, which were largely done by developed industrial countries, block a global consensus to combat warming. As the United Nations' next environment meeting scheduled in Denmark in December draws near, only bickering while no constructive compromises on either side is the least thing we want.

The leaders of both developed and developing states shall have the vision and courage, to embark on chartering a feasible strategy, committing their countries to gas reductions in order to fulfill the no-more-than- 2-degree-Celsius temperature rise goal. It is a very heartening sign that Eur0pe has proposed to reduce their emissions by 80 percent by 2050, though the United States has only assented to 17 percent cut of theirs.

The emerging economies have not agreed to any specific goals, but eventually, for the good of the earth and the very survival of human beings, the developing countries will have to restrain gas emissions by controlling fossil fuel usage. And, it is strongly suggested that the industrial countries follow through on their promises of financial and technological help for poorer nations, in a collective move to head off the disaster.

In addition to emissions limits by all the parties, government mandates and administrative incentives in the form of tax breaks or subsidies, are indispensable to promote energy-efficient buildings, auto vehicles, daily utensils and electric appliances. And, technologies like capturing carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants and storing it should be extended to the less developed countries.

The big emitters ought to coordinate on climate policies closely and try to reach a worldwide agreement on capping emission standards, without it, a tit-for-tat trade war might erupt, because the countries limiting emissions will find them face mounting domestic pressure to levy punitive tariffs on goods produced in countries that do not cap emissions. Anyhow, the dangerous atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases must be stopped.

The article represents the author's view only. It does not represent opinions of People's Daily or People's Daily Online.