Lecture 7: Paris Agreement and the current climate crisis

Question 1

humanity has raised global CO2 conc by__ over the last 50 years

Answer 1

85ppm

• since industrial revolution we have raised global CO2 conc by over 120ppm

Question 2

Carbon budget:

Answer 2

amount of C human beings can acceptably release into atmosphere without it being a dangerous level of CO2

• 2.25 trillion tonnes since 1870, should keep up to a 1.5 degrees C rise in overall global temp

Question 3

Where are CO2 emissions from?

Answer 3

2 major sources:

• fossil fuels, cement & flaring (industry)
• forestry and other land use

Question 4

most of our CO2 emissions are as a result of ___ production:

Answer 4

68% of energy

• cars
• lights
• powering industry

BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS

Question 5

The fate of CO2 (released by us)

Answer 5

• 45% into atmosphere
• 30% into land
• 26% into Oceans

Question 6

efficiently of CO2 sinks

Answer 6

atmosphere, oceans & land

• sinks have continued to grow with increasing emissions
• more were putting in, the more they’re absorbing
• • BUT likely to be a limit to the amount the LAND and the OCEAN can absorbs

Question 7

how long does CO2 stay in the atmosphere??

Answer 7

V long lived,
–even after 100years, 33% will still be present
19% at 1000 years

Question 8

effects of rising CO2:

Answer 8

1) increased temperature
2) more extremes of weather
3) ocean acidification
4) sea level rise

Question 9

global warming found where most?

Answer 9

in the higher latitudes

- warming in those areas i.e ice melting –> sea levels rise

Question 10

global views on global warming: diff peoples views

Answer 10

• clear evidence of prolonged warming
• warming seen as a positive in some places (PUTIN in Russia, UK farming)
• some regions have cooled

Question 11

biggest emitters = biggest warming??

Answer 11

NO i.e brazil biggest deforestation but they don’t experience warming

Question 12

Climate dice =

Answer 12

• Hansen
• describe the chance of unusually warm or cool seasons
• GREATER CHANCES OF EXTREME HIGH TEMPS
• that have become more and more ‘loaded’ in the past 30 years, coinciding with rapid global warming
• unusually warm anomalies is INCREASING

Question 13

warmest year on record

Answer 13

2016

-some areas in arctic = 4 degrees C higher than normal

Question 14

climate dice: Southern/ northern hemisphere experiencing these unusual great changes the most?

Answer 14

• SOUTHERN
• more variable and bigger effects
• issue as where a lot of rainforests and developing countries (much smaller producer of CO2)

Question 15

effects of Climate Dice not always felt most by

Answer 15

biggest emitters

Question 16

Earths energy imbalance

Answer 16

• more energy in than going out
• 2005 -2010 energy imbalance = 0.58 W/m^2
  == WARMING
• evidence the number is going up

Question 17

Earths energy imbalance: temp should be going up faster than it is, WHY

Answer 17

They didn’t consider the oceans absorbing CO2

-

Question 18

ARGO floats

Answer 18

• under water robots that controls earths oceans, measure ocean heat gain since 2005
• 3907 floats in Feb 2019

Question 19

what do the ARGO floats tell us

Answer 19

• 90% of excess energy is going into the oceans

- not just absorbing CO2, also absorbing the heat produced from global warming

Question 20

Policy frameworks to solving CC: policy vs politics

Answer 20

• policy = how the country is governed
• politics = who decides how the country is governed
• • Ideally == policy driven by SCIENTISTS, not the case
• policy tries to make things better, politics = tries to win votes

Question 21

Policy frameworks to solving CC: major group for climate change is

Answer 21

UN Climate Change (UNFCCC)

- est in 1992

Question 22

Policy frameworks to solving CC: Paris 2015 COP

Answer 22

• changed the definition of safe level son CO2 emissions
• huge step forward in terms of climate policy
• each country must determine, plan & report on the contribution that it undertakes to mitigate global warming
• targets decided by each individual country, but must be better to prior ones
• established rules for Carbon Trading
• not exceed 1.5 degrees celsius global temp increase