Climate Change - Problem Flashcards
Recent NYT Article
- 2023 = hottest year on record
- some suggestion that this rise in temp is moving faster than some predictive models might have said
-> concern that if it’s happening faster, we might have hit some kind of cliff
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Synthesis Report
- latest released in March 2023
Climate Change Effects
- ocean temps rising + increased acidification
- most impact on natural systems that will then impact us
- crop yields
- species shifting ranges
- hydrological impacts
- exacerbation of other stressors
- melting + declining glaciers, permafrost, declining snow + ice
- changing forests
- increasing desertification
- cliffs, exponential effects
IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - Synthesis Report - First Headline Statement
Observed Warming and Its Causes: “Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming, with global surface temperature reaching 1.1°C above 1850–1900 in 2011–2020. Global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase, with unequal historical and ongoing contributions arising from unsustainable energy use, land use and land-use change, lifestyles and patterns of consumption and production across regions, between and within countries, and among individuals (high
confidence).
IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - Synthesis Report - Second Headline Statement
Observed Changes and Impacts: “Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. Human-caused climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. This has led to widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people (high confidence). Vulnerable communities who have historically contributed the least to current climate
change are disproportionately affected (high confidence).”
Climate Change - Broad Categories of Policy Strategies
- mitigation
- adaptation
Mitigation - General Concept
- seeking to prevent/avoid climate change
- those activities meant to “reduce the sources of greenhouse gases or enhance the sinks”
UNFCCC
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Adaptation - General Concept
- seeking to reduce/adjust anticipated impacts of climate change
- adjustments in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities
Sequestration
- form of mitigation
- involves everything from protecting + enhancing forest + other natural carbon sinks to capturing + injecting CO2 deep underground to converting it to stable carbonate minerals
3 Major Categories of Mitigation Discussed in Textbook
- stabilize + then reduce carbon emissions
- need fast-acting strategies that address shorter-term climate-forcing pollutants (HFCs, black carbon, methane, + tropospheric ozone) -> slow near-term climate warming + avoid potential thresholds for abrupt climate change
- may need to employ negative emission strategies to lower atmospheric CO2 concentrations faster than natural cycle would
Techniques and Technologies for Emissions Reduction
- efficiency
- fuel switching
- sinks, carbon capture, + storage
- renewable + alternative energy
- food + consumption changes
- land use changes
- reducing short-lived climate pollutants (targeting specific pollutants)
Mitigation - Regulatory Choices
Economic Instruments
- carbon taxes
- reduce subsidies
- cap and trade and/or offsets
Traditional Regulation
- technology mandates
- technology-forcing
Industry-wide approaches and mandates
-> can choose at international + domestic level whether you’re going to impose something across the board, whether you focus on a particular sector or region, etc
General Approaches of Int Climate Change Instruments Thus Far
- broad first step - need to set warming goal, then figure out emissions that keep you there
- UNFCCC - broad framework
- Kyoto - specific targets for particular countries (more of a targets + timetables approach)
- Paris - bottom-up, countries setting own goals
Adaptation - Rationales for Considering This
- human experience of climate change
- highlights moral imperative, equity piece
- initial reluctance to address in the 90s though (didn’t want adaptation to be viewed as a sort of license to pollute or detract from investment in mitigation)
Who should pay for adaptation?
- moral piece of common but differentiated responsibilities
- developed countries - pushback b/c they don’t want to admit liability -> would rather make it look like aid
- question of additional vs. incremental costs
Examples of Adaptation
- growing different kinds of crops (ex: more resilient in hotter temps, drought-resistant/using less water, ameliorate some resource-use problems)
- investing in more resistant infrastructure against extreme weather events
- sea level rise responses - managed retreat vs. building sea walls
- shifting path dependence - getting communities to rethink how they do things
Intersection of Adaptation with Other Issues
- could wind up with impacts on other environmental issues (ex: biodiversity)
-> those working in other treaty regimes are always a bit wary of what’s happening in the climate change space
Stabilization Goal
- concentration of greenhouse gases in atmosphere that will allow us to avoid the most serious climate change impacts
- identifying this = first step in mitigating climate change - both a scientific + a political q (Paris Agreement temporarily settled political q)
Mitigation Goals
- determining atmospheric concentration of GHGs + other climate pollutants likely to result in desired temp goal
- informed by climate sensitivity (relationship between GHG concentrations + resulting temp increases)
- need to mitigate all GHGs to achieve goal, but most discussions of atmospheric concentrations focus on CO2 (most important GHG long-term)
Paris Agreement - General Approach
- allows countries to set their own nationally determined contributions to mitigate climate change -> instead of prescribing limited number of global approaches, the 191 parties to the agreement have chosen to allow widely different approaches to the common mitigation goal
- numerous mitigation strategies, some economy-wide (address GHGs throughout entire economy) + others focus on individual industries or economic sectors (energy, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation)
Examples of Traditional Regulatory Policies in Climate Context
- restrictions on power plant emissions
- renewable portfolio standards
- energy or fuel efficiency standards
- carbon capture + storage reqs
Carbon Taxes
- recommended by economists as way to est appropriate market incentives for increasing energy conservation + switching from more polluting activities
- some disagreement though on what it would take to change consumption significantly
- have been adopted in over 25 national + sub-national jurisdictions
Subsidies
- Govs subsidize array of products + services that impact climate -> subsidies can promote climate-friendly tech + practices, but more frequently promote fossil fuel use + associated emissions either directly or indirectly
- annual US subsidies to fossil fuel industry estimated at $20 billion per yr
