2.3 Responding to climate change

Question 1

Give an overview of what vulnerability to climate change means

Answer 1

-While some countries and groups of people have high risk exposure, others do not (at least in the short term).

-The power to act is also spread unevenly among stakeholder groups.

-Many of the people and countries who have most to lose from climate change also have least power to bring about the real political changes that are needed at both national and global levels (such as binding commitments to reduce carbon emissions and fossil fuel use, while also investing heavily in renewable energy).

Question 2

Define resilience

Answer 2

The capacity of individuals, societies, organizations or environments to recover and resume ‘business as usual’ functions and operations following a hazard event or other system shock.

Question 3

Location and vulnerability- what characteristics of people and places may affect vulnerability and how might personal and societal perspectives vary on the need to respond to climate change?

Answer 3

• Temperate or semi-arid region?

• Coastline or continental interior?

•High or low latitude?

-People living where risks are greatest – including islands and coastal regions, areas at risk of increased drought and high latitudes – may want urgent action.

Question 4

Wealth, education and vulnerability- what characteristics of people and places may affect vulnerability and how might personal and societal perspectives vary on the need to respond to climate change?

Answer 4

•Low- or high-income countries?

• Are citizens well-educated about climate change risk and resilience?

-Well-educated citizens in high-income countries may know more about the issues; but they may also be more confident that they can adapt to climate change.

Question 5

Age, gender and vulnerability- what characteristics of people and places may affect vulnerability and how might personal and societal perspectives vary on the need to respond to climate change?

Answer 5

• Older people or younger people?

• Men or women?

-Younger people who will be alive in the 2070s and 2080s may want to take action to safeguard their own future.

-Men’s and women’s views tend to be broadly similar.

Question 6

Risk perceptions and vulnerability- what characteristics of people and places may affect vulnerability and how might personal and societal perspectives vary on the need to respond to climate change?

Answer 6

•What does government and the media say about climate change?

-People may be influenced by politicians and news channels that are skeptical about climate change.

-US President Donald Trump was a skeptic.

Question 7

Give an overview of the economic and social situation in the Philippines

Answer 7

-The Philippines is a middle-income nation of 110 million people with a GDP per capita (PPP) of US$8,200 in 2017.

-In the last 20 years, around 60,000 people have lost their lives in this country to the combined effects of different natural disasters.

Question 8

What is the location of The Phillipines and how does this affect its vulnerability to climate change?

Answer 8

-The 7,000 islands are located at latitudes 5–20°N of the equator – within the tropical cyclone (typhoon) belt.

-They are hit by around 20 major storms each year.

-Some of the islands are isolated, making it harder to warn people living there of approaching storms.

Question 9

Describe the 2011 typhoon in The Phillipines

Answer 9

-In 2011, a combination of coastal and river flooding, driven by Typhoon Washi, washed away slum housing on the banks and sandbars of the Cagayan river, killing 1,250 people.

-On the island of Mindanao, half a million people lost their homes.

Question 10

Describe the 2013 typhoon in The Phillipines

Answer 10

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan – the strongest storm ever recorded making landfall in the Philippines – killed 6,300 people.

Question 11

Some scientists think there is a correlation between the increasing intensity of storms striking the Philippines and the ___

Answer 11

Progression of climate change

Question 12

Why are the human and economic impacts of the typhoons in The Phillipines severe and rising over time?

Answer 12

-The vulnerability of poorer segments of the country’s increasing population (many people live at sea level in poorly constructed homes; total population grew by 45 per cent between 1990 and 2008)

-Failure of the authorities to have better management policies, such as land-use zoning, despite the known risks

-The growing value of property and business assets (Manila is a megacity of more than 20 million people where economic risks are very high: it is now a major call centre hub, for instance).

Question 13

Give an overview of the history of flooding in the UK

Answer 13

-London faces a threat of flooding caused by storm surges driven by depressions into the Thames Estuary from the North Sea.

-The last serious event was in 1953 when 300 people died.

-The UK’s Environment Agency believes there remains a one-in-a-thousand chance of London being flooded in any given year, owing to the limits of the protection offered since 1984 by the Thames Flood Barrier.

Question 14

How does the Thames Flood Barrier protect against flooding?

Answer 14

-Closing the barrier seals off part of the upper Thames from the sea and unusually high tides that might push seawater into central London.

-When not in use, the six rising gates rest out of sight on the riverbed, allowing free passage of river traffic though the openings between the piers.

Question 15

What are the two reasons why climate change may mean that the risk of the barrier failing is growing (Thames Flood Barrier in the UK)

Answer 15

-Because of (1) global eustatic sea-level rise (mainly because of thermal expansion) and (2) more powerful storms that generate higher tides (also known as storm surges).

Question 16

What may need to be built along the river Thames by 2030?

Answer 16

-Either a new US$6 billion flood barrier or a US$30 billion tidal barrage may need to be built.

-The high cost of defending this city appears to be justifiable when risk and vulnerability are examined in detail.

Question 17

What is the risk and vulnerability of the area around the river Thames that justifies the high cost of defending the area?

Answer 17

-Almost 9 million people live in London, around one million of whom (in half a million homes) are at direct risk of flooding. Elderly or disabled floodplain residents are especially vulnerable to a sudden-onset flood event.

-If the Thames did burst its banks in central London due to a tidal surge, Westminster (where the UK Government is based) would be under 2 metres of water; 16 hospitals and 400 schools would be flooded.

-London’s total level of risk is growing all the time, as more people migrate there and new housing developments increase the total value of vulnerable property. An estimated US$200 billion of property is now at risk.

Question 18

Are disastrous events, such as destruction of property due to flooding, preventable in London?

Answer 18

-Such disastrous events are most likely preventable, however.

-London is protected already to a very high standard and the UK government can be expected to pay for whatever new adaptation measures are required as and when climate risks worsen.

Question 19

Give an overview of how local indigenous people in the Arctic are threatened by climate change

Answer 19

-They face an entirely unsustainable future on account of climate change, according to scientists who are working in the region.

-Life is changing irreversibly for people who live in the Arctic and depend on the presence of sea ice both economically and culturally.

Question 20

Why are indigenous people in northwest Greenland vulnerable to climate change?

Answer 20

-In northwest Greenland, many of the region’s native Inuit maintain a strong cultural connection to the Arctic landscape through their traditional livelihoods of hunting and fishing.

-An important part of the traditional way of life is the seasonal hunt for different animal species, including seals and narwhals.

Question 21

Why are indigenous people vulnerable to climate change in places where the sea ice is breaking up earlier and forming later?

Answer 21

-They are losing safe access to traditional hunting grounds for large parts of the year.

-In the future, there will be no access at all.

-Observations show that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of world because of its high latitude.

-Summer sea ice cover has decreased by about 50 per cent since the late 1970s.

Question 22

Why are indigenous people on Greenland’s Disko Island vulnerable to climate change?

Answer 22

-On Greenland’s Disko Island, the main town of Qeqertarsuaq is home to around 900 inhabitants.

-Thick winter sea ice used to provide dog-sledding routes that connected Disko other places.

-The recent reduction in sea ice means that Disko residents are now becoming isolated, in addition to losing their ice hunting grounds.

Question 23

Why is vulnerability for indigenous people in the Arctic an extreme form of vulnerability?

Answer 23

Because Inuit culture and the physical environment are so highly interconnected that it is hard to imagine how communities will survive in any recognizable way if the ice does not.

Question 24

What are the three broad ways in which governments respond to the threat of climate change?

Answer 24

-Do nothing.

-Act to reduce the severity or intensity of climate change by reducing the output of greenhouse gases and/or increasing the size and amount of GHG storage or sink sites. This is called mitigation.

-Adjust to changes in the environment, for example by building coastal defences, rather than trying to stop climate change from happening. This is called adaptation.

Question 25

Define mitigation

Answer 25

-Any action intended to reduce GHG emissions, such as using less fossil fuel-derived energy, thereby helping to slow down and ultimately stop climate change.

-Mitigation can be practised by stakeholders at different scales, from a citizen switching off a light, to a government setting strict national targets for reduced carbon emissions.

Question 26

Define adaptation

Answer 26

Any action designed to protect people from the harmful impacts of climate change but without tackling the underlying problem of rising GHG emissions.

Question 27

Venn diagram showing examples of mitigation and adaptation strategies which a government might adopt

Answer 27

Question 28

What are the two important differences between mitigation and adaptation that can affect political decision-making?

Answer 28

-Mitigation has upfront economic costs. Humans need to spend money now to develop renewable sources, recycle more and reduce energy consumption.

-Adaptation has future economic costs. Humans in the future will need to spend money to cope with a changing climate, for example by building higher flood defences or growing drought-resistant crops.

Question 29

Diagram summarizing how the global community has moved forwards slowly over a 30-year period towards a shared agreement on how to tackle the issues of climate change (geopolitical efforts)

Answer 29

Question 30

When did world political leaders officially sign up to the Paris Agreement?

Answer 30

In April 2016

Question 31

What does the Paris Agreement require all parties to do?

Answer 31

-To put forward their best efforts through ‘nationally determined contributions’ (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead.

-This includes requirements that all parties report regularly on their emissions and on implementation efforts.

Question 32

How many UN members had signed the Paris Agreement by February 2017?

Answer 32

195

Question 33

What is the Paris Agreement’s central aim?

Answer 33

To avoid a temperature increase of 2°C, and make every effort to limit the increase to a lower target of 1.5°C.

Question 34

What is the role of wealthy countries in the Paris Agreement?

Answer 34

-Wealthy countries will share their low-GHG science and technology with developing countries and the most vulnerable countries.

-Wealthy countries will provide finance for low-income nations most affected by anthropogenic climate change.

-Developed countries that have historically contributed a large proportion of the anthropogenic GHG stock in the atmosphere will recognize the ‘loss and damage’ inflicted on poor countries because of climate change. In doing so, they acknowledge that the sources of GHG emissions may be spatially distant from the countries most impacted by them.

Question 35

What are some of the other aims/terms of the Paris Agreement (other than avoiding a temperature increase of 2°C)?

Answer 35

-GHG emissions will be allowed to rise for now (but technologically enhanced carbon capture will be needed later this century to reduce GHG levels).

-Emissions targets will be set by countries separately, but reviewed every five years. After each five-year review, emissions levels will be decreased further.

-The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action by insisting that accurate emissions records will be kept and made available to all other countries.

Question 36

Strengths of the COP21 Paris Agreement

Answer 36

-Getting 195 countries to agree on anything is a major achievement.

-From a scientific perspective, COP21 gives us hope that so-called ‘dangerous climate change’ across all continents can be avoided.

-From an economic perspective, the agreement gives countries time to decarbonize their economies ‘without sacrificing economic prosperity on the altar of environmental wellbeing’.

-From a political perspective, it allows all governments to hold each other to frequent account regarding emissions levels and targets. Ten-year reviews, for instance, would be too infrequent.

-Finally, from the perspective of poorer, low-lying countries like Bangladesh, elements of COP21 ‘promise a degree of justice for those adversely affected by wealthier countries’ previous GHG emissions’.

Question 37

Weaknesses of the COP21 Paris Agreement

Answer 37

-Massive GHG reductions will be required by 2050 to keep the temperature increase below 2°C; some countries may find it too expensive to phase out things like coal-fired power stations over the required timescale.

-If a country is hit by an economic recession or experiences political change, its priorities may alter and climate could slip down the domestic agenda. (In the USA, President Trump has reversed decisions made by President Obama was, for instance.)

-Replacing fossil-fuel economics with renewable-energy ones sufficient to maintain decent lifestyles requires technologies that have yet to be invented.

-The Paris Agreement is ‘merely a statement of intent, albeit an important one. The key to its success or failure lies in…the fine details of how countries respond when one or more fail to honour their commitments’.

Question 38

In addition to UN action on climate change, what action have the EU member states agreed among themselves to take?

Answer 38

-By 2050, EU states have agreed to cut their emissions by 80 percent compared to 1990 levels.

Question 39

Are carbon emissions trading (CET) schemes an example of adaptation or mitigation?

Answer 39

Mitigation

Question 40

What is the aim of carbon emissions trading (CET) schemes?

Answer 40

To achieve a progressive reduction in the total of GHG emissions produced by a national or regional economy.

Question 41

What are CET schemes?

Answer 41

-CET schemes are a form of environmental economics: this is viewed by some economists as the best way of protecting the world from environmental harm while avoiding excessive amounts of direct government regulation. Instead, market forces are relied on to bring about the changes that are needed.

-CET schemes use a market solution to tackle an environmental problem.

-The idea is to harness the market power of businesses and consumers.

-Both groups can be expected to choose low-carbon products and services if they are priced more expensively than high-carbon goods and services.

-CET schemes operate using a cap and trade system.

Question 42

-CET schemes operate using a ___ system.

Answer 42

Cap and trade

Question 43

Define cap and trade

Answer 43

An environmental policy that places a limit on the amount a natural resource can be used, identifies the resource users, divides this amount up into shares per user, and allows users to sell their shares if they do not wish to use them directly.

Question 44

What is the EU emissions trading system (EUETS)?

Answer 44

-The world’s largest CET scheme.

-Introduced by their European Union in 2003, it encompasses thousands of power stations, factories, oil refineries, cement-making works and chemical operations.

Question 45

What is each participant in the EUETS given?

Answer 45

-A tradable emissions allowance (or credits) by the EU.

-One allowance gives the holder the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or its equivalent.

Question 46

EUETS- what must polluters who find they have insufficient credits do?

Answer 46

-Either cut their emissions or incur fines, which will increase the price of their products.

-However, they may also buy unused credits from other participants.

-By setting a cap or limit on GHG omissions, the EU has created tradable allowances.

-This means that there is an incentive for businesses to decarbonize their operations because they will then be left with unused carbon allowances that can be sold for a potential profit.

Question 47

More info needed on EUETS?

Question 48

What has the EUETS been criticised for?

Answer 48

-For issuing too many credits, which consequently have limited value, giving little incentive for participants to reduce their own use and sell surpluses.

-The high number of credits has also meant that little has been done overall to reduce the total flow of carbon emissions.

Question 49

What are the hopes for the future of EUETS?

Answer 49

It is hoped that the EU’s emissions trading scheme will become more widely used in the future and can deliver real reductions in GHG emissions ultimately.

Question 50

Explain carbon offsetting

Answer 50

-Carbon offsetting is another widely used mitigation strategy that aims to marry businesses principles with environmental goals.

-Our everyday actions – such as driving, flying and heating buildings – consume energy and produce carbon emissions.

-Carbon offsetting is a way of compensating for your emissions by funding an equivalent carbon dioxide saving elsewhere.

-The suggestion that we ‘plant a tree’ after taking an aeroplane flight is a well-known example of the offsetting principle.

Question 51

Give an example of carbon offsetting in practice

Answer 51

Various commercial organizations offer offsetting services: consumers pay a small, additional sum of money when they purchase a good or service; the company promises to invest this money in forestry, for instance.

Question 52

What criticisms are there of carbon offsetting schemes?

Answer 52

-Critics say there is insufficient monitoring of these schemes and the methods used to calculate how much carbon dioxide saving should be done.

-In the grand scheme of things, the carbon savings from offsetting do not amount to very much yet on a global scale either.

-Environmental writer Leo Hickman has argued that the whole concept of offsetting is ‘a dangerous camouflaging of the real task at hand, namely reducing emissions’.

Question 53

Describe the role of technology in tackling climate change

Answer 53

-Technology is viewed by many people as the best way to ‘fix’ the problem of climate change.

-By asserting that yet-to-be-invented technology will solve the issues, it is easier to justify carrying on with ‘business as usual’.

-In order to succeed, the Paris Agreement, as we have seen, relies heavily on technology that has yet to mature.

-In particular, it is hoped that technology can be used to remove part of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide store that is already in the atmosphere.

-This way, new anthropogenic flows of carbon dioxide can be accommodated for many years to come while developing, low-income countries use coal and oil to industrialize.

Question 54

What are the two things that geo-engineering technologies aim to do?

Answer 54

-Accelerate the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (carbon dioxide removal, or CDR).

-Reflect more sunlight back into space (sunlight reflection methods, or SRM).

Question 55

Define geo-engineering

Answer 55

The deliberate, large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment in order to counteract anthropogenic climate change.

Question 56

Give two examples of ‘technological fixes’ for climate change using geo-engineering

Answer 56

-Carbon capture and storage (CCS)

-Sunlight reflection methods (SRM)

Question 57

What is carbon capture and storage?

Answer 57

-CCS involves capturing carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels and burying it deep underground.

-This technique promises to be extremely important (given that coal will remain a very significant part of the global energy budget for years to come due to its abundance and low cost).

-CCS works in three stages.

Question 58

What are the three stages that CCS works in?

Answer 58

1) The carbon dioxide is separated from power station emissions.

2)The gas is compressed and transported by pipeline to storage areas.

3)It is injected into porous rocks deep underground or below the ocean for permanent storage (geo-sequestration).

Question 59

How could CCS make a difference in the size of the anthropogenic carbon store?

Answer 59

The IPCC estimates that CCS (1) has the potential to reduce coal-fired power station emissions by up to 90 per cent and (2) could provide up to half of the world’s total carbon mitigation until 2100.

Question 60

Evaluate CCS as a solution to climate change

Answer 60

-So far the technology has been piloted at only a handful of coal-fired power stations worldwide: it is far from being a mature technology.

-CCS will be expensive because the technology is complex and still being developed.

-There is uncertainty over how successful it will be. For carbon dioxide to remain trapped underground there must be no possibility of any leak to the surface. The gas cannot be a allowed to re-enter the atmosphere once it has been removed.

Question 61

Describe the CCS pilot projects in the UK

Answer 61

-Pilot projects in the UK were cancelled recently because of rising costs (of over US$1 billion).

-The plan had been for carbon to be transported by a pipeline to the North Sea and stored in depleted gas reservoirs.

-The UK government has cut public spending in many areas because of the global financial crisis and its after-effects.

Question 62

What are sunlight reflection methods?

Answer 62

-SRM technologies aim to readjust the global energy balance.

-The hope is to reduce incoming solar radiation to offset the global heating caused by rising greenhouse gas emissions.

Question 63

Give examples of SRM technologies

Answer 63

1)Placing mirrors in near-Earth space orbit in order to reflect more sunlight back into space.

2) Mimicking the global dimming effect of huge volcanic eruptions by injecting tiny sulfate aerosol particles into the stratosphere where they would scatter sunlight back to space

3) Whitening low-level marine clouds by spraying seawater into them; the increased albedo would lead to more reflected sunlight.

Question 64

What (negative) physical impacts might SRM technologies have?

Answer 64

-Stratospheric aerosol injections might disturb regional weather systems around the world, including storm systems.

-Aerosol particles destroy stratospheric ozone (contributing to the ‘ozone hole’ effect). Ozone depletion allows cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation to penetrate the atmosphere.

-Screening out some of the Sun’s radiation will reduce the efficiency of solar power systems.

Question 65

What (negative) human impacts might SRM technologies have?

Answer 65

-Costs and safety risks associated with the introduction of potentially millions of orbital mirrors are likely to be very high.

-Geopolitical tensions may arise if one country using this technology disrupts another country’s weather.

Question 66

Diagram of how carbon capture and storage works

Answer 66

Question 67

Give an overview of the role of civil soviety in tackling climate change

Answer 67

-There is an urgent need for action at many different scales to deal with the threat of climate change.

-Governments have a crucial role to play in establishing frameworks within which low-carbon strategies can succeed.

-However, action needs to be taken additionally by individuals, civil society organizations (CSOs) and businesses alike now that we have arrived at a ‘carbon crossroads’.

-Time is running out to adopt stronger mitigation measures.

-Unfortunately, the complexity and long-term nature of the climate change threat means that some people, businesses and governments still do not view it as a priority for action.

Question 68

How do economic crises affect civil society’s willingness to tackle climate change?

Answer 68

-The global financial crisis of 2007–09 ushered in a new ‘age of austerity’ in high-income nations of the EU, Japan and the USA.

-With around one quarter of all young people unemployed in Ireland, Spain and Greece, many citizens are reportedly ‘less concerned’ with climate change than they were prior to the crisis.

• For many people in rich countries, paying their bills and housing costs has recently become more challenging.

-They may now be more reluctant to buy local food or replace their household appliances with ‘greener’ models if there is greater expense involved.

Question 69

How does poverty affect civil society’s willingness to tackle climate change?

Answer 69

People living in poverty in the world’s 50 least developed countries – as well as around 0.8 billion Indians who live on less than US$2 a day – may still be far more concerned with day-to-day survival than they are with tackling a long-term challenge.

Question 70

How does skepticism towards scientific experts affect some members of civil society’s willingness to tackle climate change?

Answer 70

-Some people do not believe credible reports about climate change in the media and label it ‘fake news’ instead.

-The resulting tension in civil society may threaten our ability to respond to the challenges ahead effectively.

Question 71

Give examples of different individuals, businesses, and places in the US that are taking action against climate change

Answer 71

-NextGen Climate (a civil society organization)

-Citizens

-ExxonMobil (an oil and gas TNC)

-Seattle

Question 72

How has NextGen Climate (a civil society organization) taken action against climate change?

Answer 72

-NextGen Climate in an environmental pressure group whose mission is to engage politically with Millennials about the connected issues of climate change and clean energy.

-They advise potential voters on which politicians share their environmental concerns.

-The organization has a field operation in Las Vegas, which is viewed as being on the ‘front line’ of climate change in the USA: Las Vegas has doubled its consumption of water twice since 1985 and has suffered from severe droughts in recent years including 2016.

Question 73

How have US citizens taken action against climate change?

Answer 73

-In recent years, increasing numbers of Las Vegas citizens and garden businesses have begun to adapt to what they perceive to be a permanent change towards even more arid conditions.

-Homeowners favour drought-tolerant ‘desert landscaping’ and are abandoning water-hungry grass lawns.

-In colder states such as Montana, individual actions could involve turning down a home’s thermostat by 1°C; this brings a 3 per cent reduction in total household energy use.

-This action cannot be forced through legislation and relies on action by individual citizens.

-Government can, however, play a role by educating people about the issues.

Question 74

How has ExxonMobil (an oil and gas TNC) taken action against climate change?

Answer 74

-Despite having much to lose if people were to abandon the use of fossil fuels, some US energy companies play an active role in supporting geo-engineering.

-A corporate strategy of supporting CCS technology may be essential to their long-term profitability: it would mean consumers can keep using oil and gas while trusting CCS to remove anthropogenic carbon from the atmosphere.

Question 75

How has the city of Seattle taken action against climate change?

Answer 75

-The city of Seattle has its own Climate Action Plan (CAP), which aims to make the city carbon neutral by 2050.

-Adopted in 2013, Seattle CAP focuses on city actions that reduce greenhouse emissions and also ‘support vibrant neighborhoods, economic prosperity and social equity’.

-Actions are focused on areas of greatest need and impact – road transportation, building energy and waste.