Climate Change: Science And Policy Flashcards

1
Q

During what timespan stabilised temperature facilitating the evolution of modern humans?

A

Pleistocene and Holocene

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2
Q

The science of global warming

A

Some gases block emissions of heat from earth’s surface.

So heat rebounds and is preventing from escaping back into space.

I.e forming a glass screen above the earth like a greenhouse> greenhouse effect> GHG gases

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3
Q

Do GHG occur naturally

A

Yes

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4
Q

Without them what would the average temperature of earth surface be?

A

-19C compared to 15C with them

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5
Q

Link between human activity and emission of GHG gases

A

Enhanced greenhouse effect (activity increases emissions)

Human activity is influencing climate

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6
Q

5 main GHG

A

Carbon dioxide
Methane
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11 and CFC-12)
Nitrous oxide

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7
Q

Current concentrations of GHGs compared to pre-industrial concentrations

A

Current concentrations are considerably higher, especially CFCs as man-made gases

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8
Q

Significance of gases having long atmospheric life

A

It means even if emissions fall, atmospheric concentrations continue to increase for many years

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9
Q

Global warming potential (GWP)

A

The relative strength of one unit of each gas in contributing to global warming

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10
Q

What has the highest GWP

A

CFCs

CFC-11 4500
CFC-12 7100
So worst for global warming per unit wise.

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11
Q

What gas has the largest share of warming effect

A

CO2-61%

So despite CFCs having biggest GWP, it is not the biggest contributor overall.

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12
Q

Where do the release of these gases come from?

A

Industrial and agricultural activity

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13
Q

Biggest annual GHG emission by sector 2010

A

Electric power stations-25.6%

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14
Q

How is CO2 released?

A

Burning fossil fuels

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15
Q

What country emits the most

A

Asia 53% of global emissions

However Asia is home to 60% of world’s population

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16
Q

Who has contributed the most to global CO2 emissions (cumulative)

A

US- 25% of historical emissions

17
Q

Production based emissions

A

Emissions that occur domestically and offshore where country has jurisdiction

18
Q

Consumption based emissions

A

Emissions from domestic final consumption and those caused by the production of imports. (Account for effects of trade

19
Q

So who has the most production emissions (territorial based)

A

China-9.8bn
US-5.3bn

20
Q

Who has the most consumption emissions (domestic consumption and emissions from import production to account for trade)

A

China 8.4bn (less than their production emissions)
US 5.7bn (more than their production emissions)

21
Q

Climate change: uncertainty

22
Q

Climate change impacts

A

Heat waves occur more often and longer
Extreme precipitation events more intense and frequent.
Ocean warming and acidify
Global mean sea level rise

23
Q

Consequences of sea level rising

A

Problems for low lying areas e.g Netherlands.

Requires construction of large scale sea defences

24
Q

Consequence of rising temperatures

A

Serious implications for ecology and architecture

25
3 main challenges with policy responses to climate change
Time lag between actions and effect on climate (uncertainty) Technology Global phenomenon
26
Other problem with climate change policy (regarding CO2)
No end of pipe technology for CO2 I.e cannot reduce CO2 emissions in the same way we can for other air pollutants
27
Another problem with policy to climate change
Has to implemented on a global scale, as effect is felt globally. No good if one or 2 reduce.
28
2 types of policy response
Mitigation-limit magnitude of climate change i.e lower amount of GHG released Adaptation-reduce vulnerability of social/biological systems i.e Lower risks caused by climate change
29
Mitigation
Policies that focus on reducing energy use and substituting to cleaner fuels
30
Examples of mitigating policy
Increase forested areas or preventing deforestation to increase amount of carbon absorbed by trees.
31
Adaptation and examples
Policies that focus on reducing local/regional vulnerabilities e.g flood defences, urban planning, thermal insulation etc.
32
Aim in policy design for climate change
Select policies yielding greatest net benefit (benefits-costs)
33
Challenges in policy design for climate change
Uncertainty Time scale- often short term
34
Benefits of climate polices
Mitigation-reduce future damage due to reduction in GHG Adaptation-reduce future damages to social/biological systems
35
Policy regret- uncertainty
Uncertainty can lead to regret. Uncertainty can lead to under-adaptation leading to regret
36
Policy regret- time scale
Different time scale of costs and benefits of policy. Costs of climate policy as short term Benefits of policy are seen long term (remember time lag) So projects to tackle CC are not likely to be favoured.
37
How they calculate cost benefit
NPV (net present value)
38
Note: graph shows present value at different years. If benefits/costs are received far into future, present value will be lower.
39
So, overall duel objective of climate policies
Maximise net benefit Minimise regret (by considering uncertainty and time scale)