Climate change

Question 1

What is meant by greenhouses gases involving external costs

Answer 1

• Production of CO2 adds to global stock
• this leads to social and environmental costs that result in increase cost due to impacts on climate change, adaptation or mitigation strategies
• external because not paid directly by consumer or business owner and often ignored
• leads to a market failure

Question 2

Define carrying capacity and and how is it useful in understanding climate change

Answer 2

• the maximum load (generally population) that can be sustained by an environment
• Want to avoid an ecological overshoot where polluting above the carrying capacity of the earth, to do this need to:
  1) Increase carrying capacity of planet - carbon sinks, increase forestation
  2) reduce emissions or population - technology - renewable energy sources
  3) reduce requirements per-capita - technology, education,

Question 3

Define vulnerability and list 3 reasons it differs among humans

Answer 3

• sensitivity or susceptibility to harm and lack of capacity to cope and adapt
  3 elements
  1) exposure - depending on where you live (coastal regions - flooding)
  2) sensitivity - depending on socioeconomic status can be more susceptible to damage, not as high structural integrity of buildings
  3) Adaptive capacity - ability to reduce susceptibility based on wealth and knowledge - Hong Kong high wealth, integrated into modern societies, Singapore same susceptibility however less wealth

Question 4

Evidence that climate change is occurring

Answer 4

1) Ice core data - rate of change in CO2 levels in the last 100 years is up 10 fold at at 400ppm where hasn’t been above 300 in 800,000 years
2) The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased .’ (IPCC 2013)
3) Global temperature has increased in 20th century by about 0.8degrees
4) increase amount of hot days, increase heavy precipitation events, increase cold day and nights

Question 5

List and describe 3 main reasons climate change is a social problem

Answer 5

1) because human activities increase the concentration of greenhouse gases - social injustice with responsibility - create increased inequality
2) climate change puts at risk things humans value
Basic needs - health (malaria), food security (crops) - malnutrition, clean water (drought)
Development - jobs and growth (tourism, agriculture), cost of living (water, power)
Risk to social values - communities (land loss, migration, mortality), culture (sacred sites, village life - move into urban areas)
3) responding to climate change requires social change - need to adapt to reduce emissions in a way that is socially just

Question 6

What is the vulnerability of the South Pacific islands in terms of climate change

Answer 6

1) exposure - varies with 5 different island morphologies, will get more intense heat smells, more drought and flooding, more storms, rising sea levels, increase coral bleaching (tourism)
2) sensitivity - crops are rarely irrigated and therefore rely on rainfall- susceptible to drought, flooding, decrease access to medical supplies - susceptible to disease, livelihoods - many people rely on climate sensitive resources for job - farmers, fisheries, tourism
3) adaptive capacity - between 13-55% of population are below poverty line cannot buy their way out, large variation in education, spending on health - malaria treatment, prevention, electricity supply - PNG low places like Niue high

Question 7

Can the pacific islands adapt to climate change

Answer 7

• talk about vulnerability
• vulnerability not uniform across the islands
• regular cyclones going through - limit ability to plan for future climate change - increase economic vulnerability
• lack of funding - dependent on New Zealand (Niue)
• have been adapting to climate challenges for many years
• distribution of social opportunities is limited
• specific niue

Question 8

Define adaptation and what is involved

Answer 8

Process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects
Involves the following
a) Altering the exposure of a system or group to climate change - move houses away from flood areas
b) Reducing the sensitivity of the system exposed to climate change - increase height of houses
c) Increasing the capacity of the system or group to adjust - insurance, increase flood warnings

Question 9

List some determinants of generic adaptive capacity

Answer 9

• Economic resources
• Natural capital
• Social capital
• Technology
• Information and skills
• Infrastructure
• Institutional responsiveness

Question 10

What do you need with adaptation and the 5 barriers

Answer 10

Need
- Knowledge about what adaptation actions to take
- High degree of adaptive capacity
Barriers
1) Cognitive - values and beliefs, emotional engagement, knowledge about responses
2) Economic - cost of adaption vs value of damages avoids
3) Political
4) Institutional - who makes decision, who benefits, who pays
5) Cultural - some things just aren’t accepted in society - compositing toilets

Question 11

What are the 5 dimensions of maladaptation

Answer 11

1) Increase emissions of greenhouse gases
2) Disproportionately burden the most vulnerable
3) Have high opportunity costs - adaptation seems to occur if earn money for
4) Reduce incentives to adapt
5) Set paths that limit future choices

Question 12

Niue (Pacific island country) facts and adaptive strategies what is going well, how to adapt to floods and droughts

Answer 12

1) population decline may threaten culture and social values
2) high exposure and sensitivity as describes in pacific islands
3) Adaptive capacity
- reduce clearing of forests, introduce sustainable agriculture practices - good process
floods - relocation probably not going to occur due to community values and landownership
drought - best way is to promote household installation of rainwater tanks - improve water security not have to pump up from ground
Renewable energy
- can save money for household and government in long run but high cost and ongoing maintenance an issue

Question 13

What are some ethical concerns of climate change and how to get people to change on climate change

Answer 13

1) increase inequality
2) burden on future generations
3) destruction of nature - planetary bio-justice
4) disproportionate adjustment to climate change
- people do not harm what the care about - need to focus on justice and compassion

Question 14

Why should we help others with climate change

Answer 14

Universal declaration of human rights
- Every human being is equal in a certain sense
- All humans have dignity and value - therefore is someone is rich and another is poor there is injustice
Opportunities
- Who has benefited from using the resources that has led to climate change
- It is now too late for fossil fuels to be used by other countries and then benefit them

Question 15

How is the earth warmed within the climate system

Answer 15

1) Solar radiation (UV) from the sun hit the surface of the earth
2) less than half of the UV is absorbed on the surface (warms the earth)
3) Other UV is reflected by the earth and the atmosphere
4) Earth then emits infrared radiation (longer wavelength, lower frequency, lower energy) from its surface
5) some is passes through the atmosphere but most absorbed and re-emitted by greenhouse gas molecules (more molecules more re-absorption more warming) and the ozone layer
- without this would get rapidly cold at night

Question 16

What are the 5 components of the climate system and how effect greenhouse gases and earths temperature

Answer 16

1) oceans - act as major source and sink of water and CO2 - major heat transfer, results in delay in terms of heating
2) snow and ice - reflects sunlight - makes colder
3) atmosphere - greenhouse gases and ozone that absorb and re-emit IR - increase temp
4) water, clouds and rain - water vapor major greenhouse gas, clouds affect radiation
5) land surface and vegetation - absorbed greenhouse gas, sink of water

Question 17

What is a positive and negative feedback climate system and give an example of each

Answer 17

○ A positive feedback will amplify the initial perturbation
Eg - increase warming by increase gases (water) - increase air temperature - greater water-holding capacity in the air - increased water vapour - back to the start
○ A negative feedback will decrease the initial perturbation
clouds- increase warming by trace gases (water) - increased air temp - increase water vapor - increase cloud amount - increased reflection of solar radiation - cooling

Question 18

What is El Nino and La Nina

Answer 18

• El Niño is a warming of the equatorial eastern Pacific Ocean
• La Niña is the opposite of El Nino and is a cooling of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean

Question 19

What evidence is there that increase CO2 is due to human activity

Answer 19

1) When produce fossil fuels end up with more carbon 12 than carbon 13 than increase in carbon due to natural sources
Concentration of CO2 separated into C12 and C13 shows that C12 carbon is increasing while C13 is decreasing
2) When fossil fuels are created oxygen is needed, an increase in CO2 has been matched with a decrease in O2 in the atmosphere
3) Observed cooling in the upper atmosphere and warming in the lower atmosphere is consistent with the response to increasing greenhouse gases and decreasing ozone due to human causes.
4) increase in solar radiance would cause more warming in summer than winter, and in daytime than nightime, but the opposite is observed.

Question 20

What is a global warming potential, how calculated and what molecules

Answer 20

• GWP is used to represent the emissions of different greenhouse gases in terms of equivalent amounts of carbon dioxide.
  ○ How important in terms of global warming is the release of a certain greenhouse gas at certain amount (compared to CO2) in a 100 year period (so also how long gas stays in atmosphere)
  ○ Greater than 1 (CO2 is 1) has a greater global warming potential than CO2
• It combines the effects of radiative forcing and atmospheric lifetime-
  CH4 - 25 times CO2

Question 21

List 4 mitigation measures

Answer 21

1) More efficient use of energy
2) Greater use of low-carbon and no-carbon energy
- Many of these technologies exist today
3) Improved carbon sinks
- Reduced deforestation and improved forest management and planting of new forests
- Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage
4) Lifestyle and behavioural changes to reduce emissions

Question 22

List 7 effects in Australia of climate change

Answer 22

1) 97% of Great Barrier Reef is bleached annually
2) 38 - 96% decline in 60-day snow cover in the Australian Alps
3) emperature-related mortality among people 65+ years increases by 144 - 200%
4) 100 - 300% increase in extreme fire danger days in SE Australia
5) change the range of some infectious disease vectors
6) further decrease in rainfall and so irrigated agriculture decline
7) fewer deaths from cold

Question 23

List 7 categories of economic costs of climate change

Answer 23

1. Sea level rises
2. Water availability and its cost
3. Agriculture and food production
4. Ecosystems and loss of biodiversity
5. Health
6. Damage to buildings and infrastructure, and loss of lives
   7) Temperature change and costs of heating and cooling

Question 24

What are the 3 criteria to evaluate different policy options

Answer 24

1) efficiency - does it get the pollution reduction close to where MEC=MAC to maximise society welfare
Does it minimise cost per unit of pollution reduction
2) distribution of the costs between households business, government
3) simplicity and cost of operation

Question 25

What is the aim of carbon taxes and an emissions trading scheme

Answer 25

1) internalise the external coat in private market decisions
2) increases the relative cost of pollution intensive production methods
3) increases the relative price of pollution intensive goods and services
4) encourages and rewards R&D projects to reduce pollution

Question 26

Facts about carbon tax, when started, price, what on, what earns and what do with earnings

Answer 26

Internalises the external cost
July 2012 - 2014
$23/tonne CO2-e on large firm producers - fossil fuel electricity, manufactures, fugitive emissions which makes up 60% pollution - doesn’t do petroleum
Earns $8billion in revenue per year with half recycled back to households to offset the 0.7% increase in average consumer prices

Question 27

What is the good and the bad aspects of carbon tax and what countries works better in

Answer 27

Good/bad
1) quantity of pollution is reduced however reduction is determined by the market
2) Reduce jobs in coal possibly with business driven offshore as emit for free in another country but increase jobs in renewable sector as now more economically efficient
3) society gains from the reduction in pollution - bonus
Better if firms are sensitive to change in price rather than country more sensitive to climate effects

Question 28

What is involved in an emissions trading scheme and what countries does it work better in

Answer 28

• Control the quantity not the cost
• Everybody who wants to emit carbon dioxide give permit for amount they can emit
  ○ Either reduce carbon dioxide or buy permits from market (trading scheme) - government control amount of permits so they control the emissions
  ○ Reduce the permits by certain amount per year to achieve reduction in emissions by certain year
  ○ As increase the need for permits increase the price which would make it more economical for green energy
  More beneficial to country if environment is more sensitive to climate change effects

Question 29

List the 4 ways the government can mitigate climate change and define mitigation

Answer 29

mitigation - the action of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something.
1) Taxes - carbon tax
2) Tradable permit
3) Regulations, e.g. renewable energy targets,
maximum quantity of petrol and coal-fired
electricity, type and use of car, light bulbs
4) Subsidies, e.g. for renewable energy R&D, “Direct Action” and Carbon Farming Initiative

Question 30

What are the 3 main new technologies of the future to fix climate change

Answer 30

1) geothermal
2) concentrated solar thermal - solar tower
3) carbon capture and storage

Question 31

How does geothermal work, what are the negatives but what can it be used for

Answer 31

Geothermal

• Uses natural heat in the crust - enough to create steam
• Requires very deep drilling - can be expensive - may dig and not 100% certain that will get heat generation
• Can provide base-load power

Question 32

How does carbon capture and storage work and positives and negatives

Answer 32

Carbon capture and storage 
Process 
- Extract CO2 from flue gas of a power station 
- Compress and liquefy 
- Transport to storage location 
- Pump underground 
Victoria has ideal condition 
Expensive - large capital cost 
Fossil fuel companies not investing - probably wont last

Question 33

What is a direct action plan and how has it been implemented in Australia

Answer 33

A subsidy
- Firms and others submit bids to reduce GHG
emissions
– Government ranks bids by $/pollution reduction, and
selects lowest cost options up to exhaust the
available budget
Australia -
2015 first round - Approved 144 projects, Reduce CO2-e by 47.3 million tonnes over next 3-10 years, cost of $13.95/ tonne of CO2-e, Outlay of $660 million
Added from July 2016 a Safeguard Mechanism to restrict emissions by 370 large facilities as they didn’t make bids

Question 34

What are the negatives of subsidies

Answer 34

1) in theory there could be millions of bids - therefore simplicity and cost would mean only a small amount would be processed so may lose out of
2) also there is a large cost with processing even the small amount
3) Subsidy requires extra government taxation elsewhere, with associated cost - needs to find $660 million

Question 35

What are the negatives of subsidies such as the direct actions scheme

Answer 35

1) in theory there could be millions of bids - therefore simplicity and cost would mean only a small amount would be processed so may lose out of some
applications for a low cost investment
2) also there is a large cost with processing even the small amount
3) Subsidy requires extra government taxation elsewhere, with associated cost - needs to find $660 million
4) investment in changes which would have
occurred without a subsidy
5) only involves businesses not households and companies - Subsidy offers extra cost for electricity producers so no change in electricity price therefore no incentive for households or businesses to reduce energy usage

Question 36

Give examples of some regulations and the effects in terms of how you evaluate different schemes

Answer 36

• Renewable energy target
  – Maximum level of pollution per car, unit of electricity
  – Fluorescent rather than incandescent light bulbs
  – Efficiency
  • Restrict some pollution, but not all sources
  • In general, regulations are selective and not cost effective relative to a pollution price
  – Distribution of the higher costs of production
  • Consumers lose; much like area under MAC
  • Producers may gain from monopoly restricted production
  • Generates no government revenue

Question 37

what is the main different with tax and emissions trading scheme

Answer 37

individuals choose least cost way to reduce in tax/emissions but regulations or subsides government decides

Question 38

what is the private sector and government sector role in adapting to climate change

Answer 38

Private - local responses by individual businesses and households, decisions occur faster and know what ways individual prefer so more likely to stick with the decrease
Government - provide information on climate change allows private sector to make decisions, but also decisions may require coordination of communities - sea walls, biodiversity that doesn’t have an individual to represent

Question 39

What is the UNFCCC structure, objective and problems

Answer 39

• Formal agreement between states rules that guide consent-based governance
• International law - politics
  Objective - Stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in atmosphere at level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system
  Problems - No rules about decisions
  ○ If majority come to an agreement then will be legally binding
  ○ How if influential countries object get negotiations that can last years

Question 40

2015 Paris agreement what was the global objective what are the strengths and weaknesses

Answer 40

Global objective keep increase well below 2 degrees
Strengths
1) countries set own targets they thing they can achieve relative to their economy (implement in the way they see fit)
2) Developed country parties provide financial resources to assist developing countries - $100 billion US dollars
3) From November 4th is now international law
4) 195 countries have committed to action - renewed faith in global commitment - Mr Turnbull - “galvanised the internation community and spurred on global action”
Weakness
1) no progess on technology transfer
2) no progress on loss and damage

Question 41

Describe the two psychological models that make people do things

Answer 41

1) decision making is a logical/cognitive activity that is the responsibility of the individual - they need the information to make rationale decisions
2) actions and decisions as well as psychological state and behaviours are affected by the social and material world in which they live - people tend to act according to habits that are reproduced by others - australia rectifying the paris agreement shows that climate change is a real issue