GENEVA: The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an international non-government environment conservation organisation, warned on Sunday that there are only five years left to mitigate the effects of fossil fuels and called for prompt action to deal with climate change.

Quoting Kim Carstensen, leader of the WWF's Global Climate Initiative, China's Xinhua news agency said the findings show that "the window of opportunity to act on climate change is rapidly closing."

In a report named Climate Solutions 2, which was released on Sunday in Gland, Switzerland, the organisation called for simultaneous action on greenhouse gas emissions, implementation of energy efficiency standards,
incentives to adopt renewable energy such as feed-in tariffs and an elimination of fossil fuel subsidies.

If renewable energy, carbon capture and storage, energy efficiency, sustainable low-carbon agriculture and sustainable forestry are developed concurrently, "we can win the fight against runaway climate change," said Dr. Stephan Singer, head of WWF's Global Energy Initiative.

According to the report, cost projections for the investment in renewable energy could reach US$7 trillion, though it would generate six-fold returns by 2050.

Appealing to the attendees of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, Carstensen said: "Most immediately and importantly, the basis for this transformation has to be laid in Copenhagen in December with a fair, binding and effective new global deal on climate change."

Climate Solutions 2 was prepared for WWF by Climate Risk, which models climate projections for global insurers and infrastructure providers.

The WWF, founded in 1961, is the world's largest independent conservation organisation and is active in more than 90 countries. It is headquartered in Gland, Switzerland.