Showing papers on "Runaway climate change published in 2012"
TL;DR: In this paper, uncertainty arising from internal climate variability is investigated using a new 40-member ensemble conducted with the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate System Model Version 3 (CCSM3) under the SRES A1B greenhouse gas and ozone recovery forcing scenarios during 2000-2060.
Abstract: Uncertainty in future climate change presents a key challenge for adaptation planning. In this study, uncertainty arising from internal climate variability is investigated using a new 40-member ensemble conducted with the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate System Model Version 3 (CCSM3) under the SRES A1B greenhouse gas and ozone recovery forcing scenarios during 2000–2060. The contribution of intrinsic atmospheric variability to the total uncertainty is further examined using a 10,000-year control integration of the atmospheric model component of CCSM3 under fixed boundary conditions. The global climate response is characterized in terms of air temperature, precipitation, and sea level pressure during winter and summer. The dominant source of uncertainty in the simulated climate response at middle and high latitudes is internal atmospheric variability associated with the annular modes of circulation variability. Coupled ocean-atmosphere variability plays a dominant role in the tropics, with attendant effects at higher latitudes via atmospheric teleconnections. Uncertainties in the forced response are generally larger for sea level pressure than precipitation, and smallest for air temperature. Accordingly, forced changes in air temperature can be detected earlier and with fewer ensemble members than those in atmospheric circulation and precipitation. Implications of the results for detection and attribution of observed climate change and for multi-model climate assessments are discussed. Internal variability is estimated to account for at least half of the inter-model spread in projected climate trends during 2005–2060 in the CMIP3 multi-model ensemble.
1,337 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed assessing of climate change impacts on various components of the ecosystem such as air, water, plants, animals and human beings, with special emphasis on economy.
Abstract: Global climate change is a change in the long-term weather patterns that characterize the regions of the world. Scientists state unequivocally that the earth is warming. Natural climate variability alone cannot explain this trend. Human activities, especially the burning of coal and oil, have warmed the earth by dramatically increasing the concentrations of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. The more of these gases humans put into the atmosphere, the more the earth will warm in the decades and centuries ahead. The impacts of warming can already be observed in many places, from rising sea levels to melting snow and ice to changing weather patterns. Climate change is already affecting ecosystems, freshwater supplies, and human health. Although climate change cannot be avoided entirely, the most severe impacts of climate change can be avoided by substantially reducing the amount of heat-trapping gases released into the atmosphere. However, the time available for beginning serious action to avoid severe global consequences is growing short. This paper reviews assessing of such climate change impacts on various components of the ecosystem such as air, water, plants, animals and human beings, with special emphasis on economy. The most daunting problem of global warming is also discussed. This paper, further reviews the mitigation measures, with a special focus on carbon sequestration and clean development mechanism (CDM). The importance of synergy between climate change mitigation and adaptation has been discussed. An overview of the relationship between economy and emissions, including Carbon Tax and Emission Trading and the policies are also presented.
298 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that using a conventional quadratic damages function and/or a thin-tailed probability distribution for extreme temperatures can mislead the public about the welfare losses from climate change.
Abstract: A critical issue in climate change economics is the specification of the so-called “damages function” and its interaction with the unknown uncertainty of catastrophic outcomes. This paper asks how much we might be misled by our economic assessment of climate change when we employ a conventional quadratic damages function and/or a thin-tailed probability distribution for extreme temperatures. The paper gives some numerical examples of the indirect value of various greenhouse gas (GHG) concentration targets as insurance against catastrophic climate change temperatures and damages. These numerical exercises suggest that we might be underestimating considerably the welfare losses from uncertainty by using a quadratic damages function and/or a thin-tailed temperature distribution. In these examples, the primary reason for keeping GHG levels down is to insure against high-temperature catastrophic climate risks.
247 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provided a commentary on recent climate extremes and the answer to the oft-asked question of whether an event is caused by climate change is that it is the wrong question.
Abstract: The atmospheric and ocean environment has changed from human activities in ways that affect storms and extreme climate events. The main way climate change is perceived is through changes in extremes because those are outside the bounds of previous weather. The average anthropogenic climate change effect is not negligible, but nor is it large, although a small shift in the mean can lead to very large percentage changes in extremes. Anthropogenic global warming inherently has decadal time scales and can be readily masked by natural variability on short time scales. To the extent that interactions are linear, even places that feature below normal temperatures are still warmer than they otherwise would be. It is when natural variability and climate change develop in the same direction that records get broken. For instance, the rapid transition from El Nino prior to May 2010 to La Nina by July 2010 along with global warming contributed to the record high sea surface temperatures in the tropical Indian and Atlantic Oceans and in close proximity to places where record flooding subsequently occurred. A commentary is provided on recent climate extremes. The answer to the oft-asked question of whether an event is caused by climate change is that it is the wrong question. All weather events are affected by climate change because the environment in which they occur is warmer and moister than it used to be.
246 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a coupled global climate model was used to quantify the magnitude of the warming generated by permafrost carbon release and climate, and it was shown that the additional surface warming produced by the feedback between permafore carbon and climate is independent of the pathway of anthropogenic emissions followed in the twenty-first century.
Abstract: Permafrost soils contain almost twice as much carbon as the current atmospheric carbon pool. Climate model simulations suggest that the feedback generated by future permafrost carbon release could lead to a further warming of 0.13–1.69 °C by 2300. Permafrost soils contain an estimated 1,700 Pg of carbon, almost twice the present atmospheric carbon pool1. As permafrost soils thaw owing to climate warming, respiration of organic matter within these soils will transfer carbon to the atmosphere, potentially leading to a positive feedback2. Models in which the carbon cycle is uncoupled from the atmosphere, together with one-dimensional models, suggest that permafrost soils could release 7–138 Pg carbon by 2100 (refs 3, 4). Here, we use a coupled global climate model to quantify the magnitude of the warming generated by the feedback between permafrost carbon release and climate. According to our simulations, permafrost soils will release between 68 and 508 Pg carbon by 2100. We show that the additional surface warming generated by the feedback between permafrost carbon and climate is independent of the pathway of anthropogenic emissions followed in the twenty-first century. We estimate that this feedback could result in an additional warming of 0.13–1.69 °C by 2300. We further show that the upper bound for the strength of the feedback is reached under the less intensive emissions pathways. We suggest that permafrost carbon release could lead to significant warming, even under less intensive emissions trajectories.
237 citations
Book•
13 Jun 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, Jorgen Randers guides us through the future he feels is most likely to emerge and examines matters such as: * How many people will the planet need to support? * Will there be enough food and energy? * How youth revolt under the debt and pension burden of the old? * Which nations will prosper and which will suffer?
Abstract: We know what we want the world to be like in forty years. We know what the world could be like in forty years if we all did what needs to be done to create a more sustainable future. But what do we know about what the world will actually be like in forty years? Drawing on global forecasting tools, his own experience in the sutatinability arena, and the predictions - included in the book - of more than thirty leading scientists, economists, futurists and other thinkers, Jorgen Randers guides us through the future he feels is most likely to emerge. He examines matters such as: * How many people will the planet need to support? * Will there be enough food and energy? * Will youth revolt under the debt and pension burden of the old? * Which nations will prosper and which will suffer? * Will the race toward renewables succeed? * Will the belief in endless growth crumble? * How will megacities evolve and human communication change? * Will the shift to Chinese economic superiority be peaceful? * Will runaway climate change have taken hold? These are just a few of the questions he deftly probes, and there are some surprising answers.
204 citations
TL;DR: The major evolution of the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) is used to diagnose climate feedbacks, understand how climate feedback changes with different physical parameterizations, and identify the processes and regions that determine climate sensitivity as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The major evolution of the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) is used to diagnose climate feedbacks, understand how climate feedbacks change with different physical parameterizations, and identify the processes and regions that determine climate sensitivity. In the evolution of CAM from version 4 to version 5, the water vapor, temperature, surface albedo, and lapse rate feedbacks are remarkably stable across changes to the physical parameterization suite. However, the climate sensitivity increases from 3.2 K in CAM4 to 4.0 K in CAM5. The difference is mostly due to (i) more positive cloud feedbacks and (ii) higher CO2 radiative forcing in CAM5. The intermodel differences in cloud feedbacks are largest in the tropical trade cumulus regime and in the midlatitude storm tracks. The subtropical stratocumulus regions do not contribute strongly to climate feedbacks owing to their small area coverage. A “modified Cess” configuration for atmosphere-only model experime...
151 citations
TL;DR: The Arctic has a long history of natural, abrupt climate changes, which together with current observations and model projections, can help to identify which parts of the Arctic climate system might pass future tipping points.
Abstract: There is widespread concern that anthropogenic global warming will trigger Arctic climate tipping points. The Arctic has a long history of natural, abrupt climate changes, which together with current observations and model projections, can help us to identify which parts of the Arctic climate system might pass future tipping points. Here the climate tipping points are defined, noting that not all of them involve bifurcations leading to irreversible change. Past abrupt climate changes in the Arctic are briefly reviewed. Then, the current behaviour of a range of Arctic systems is summarised. Looking ahead, a range of potential tipping phenomena are described. This leads to a revised and expanded list of potential Arctic climate tipping elements, whose likelihood is assessed, in terms of how much warming will be required to tip them. Finally, the available responses are considered, especially the prospects for avoiding Arctic climate tipping points.
138 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated the implications of the structure of climate feedbacks for the change in poleward energy transport as the planet warms over the twenty-first century in a suite of GCMs, using radiative kernels that describe the TOA radiative response to small perturbations in temperature, water vapor, and surface albedo.
Abstract: Feedbacks determine the efficiency with which the climate system comes back into equilibrium in response to a radiative perturbation. Although feedbacks are integrated quantities, the processes from which they arise have rich spatial structures that alter the distribution of top of atmosphere (TOA) net radiation. Here, the authors investigate the implications of the structure of climate feedbacks for the change in poleward energy transport as the planet warms over the twenty-first century in a suite of GCMs. Using radiative kernels that describe the TOA radiative response to small perturbations in temperature, water vapor, and surface albedo, the change in poleward energy flux is partitioned into the individual feedbacks that cause it.This study finds that latitudinal gradients in the sum of climate feedbacks reinforce the preexisting latitudinal gradient in TOA net radiation, requiring that the climate system transport more energy to the poles on a warming planet. This is primarily due to structu...
127 citations
TL;DR: The good news is that almost all lines of evidence lead us to believe that it is unlikely to be possible, even in principle, to trigger full a runaway greenhouse by addition of non-condensible greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Abstract: The ultimate climate emergency is a ‘runaway greenhouse’: a hot and water-vapour-rich atmosphere limits the emission of thermal radiation to space, causing runaway warming. Warming ceases only after the surface reaches approximately 1400 K and emits radiation in the near-infrared, where water is not a good greenhouse gas. This would evaporate the entire ocean and exterminate all planetary life. Venus experienced a runaway greenhouse in the past, and we expect that the Earth will in around 2 billion years as solar luminosity increases. But could we bring on such a catastrophe prematurely, by our current climatealtering activities? Here, we review what is known about the runaway greenhouse to answer this question, describing the various limits on outgoing radiation and how climate will evolve between these. The good news is that almost all lines of evidence lead us to believe that is unlikely to be possible, even in principle, to trigger full a runaway greenhouse by addition of non-condensible greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. However, our understanding of the dynamics, thermodynamics, radiative transfer and cloud physics of hot and steamy atmospheres is weak. We cannot therefore completely rule out the possibility that human actions might cause a transition, if not to full runaway, then at least to a much warmer climate state than the present one. High climate sensitivity might provide a warning. If we, or more likely our remote descendants, are threatened with a runaway greenhouse, then geoengineering to reflect sunlight might be life’s only hope. Injecting reflective aerosols into the stratosphere would be too short-lived, and even sunshades in space might require excessive maintenance. In the distant future, modifying Earth’s orbit might provide a sustainable solution. The runaway greenhouse also remains relevant in planetary sciences and astrobiology: as extrasolar planets smaller and nearer to their stars are detected, some will be in a runaway greenhouse state.
120 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, two independent methods are used to analyze the temperature measurements: Singular Spectrum Analysis and Climate Model Simulation, and concurrence of the results of the two methods, each using 13 additional years of temperature measurements from 1998 through 2010, shows that it is humanity, not nature, that has increased the Earth's global temperature since the 19th century.
Abstract: Measurements show that the Earth’s global-average near-surface temperature has increased by about 0.8℃ since the 19th century. It is critically important to determine whether this global warming is due to natural causes, as contended by climate contrarians, or by human activities, as argued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This study updates our earlier calculations which showed that the observed global warming was predominantly human-caused. Two independent methods are used to analyze the temperature measurements: Singular Spectrum Analysis and Climate Model Simulation. The concurrence of the results of the two methods, each using 13 additional years of temperature measurements from 1998 through 2010, shows that it is humanity, not nature, that has increased the Earth’s global temperature since the 19th century. Humanity is also responsible for the most recent period of warming from 1976 to 2010. Internal climate variability is primarily responsible for the early 20th century warming from 1904 to 1944 and the subsequent cooling from 1944 to 1976. It is also found that the equilibrium climate sensitivity is on the low side of the range given in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the current situation of climate changing and the causes of its vulnerable effects, also the mitigation action of climate change are also discussed, also they elaborately present the present situation and causes of vulnerable effects.
Abstract: Climate changing is a global threat to the world. There are so many reasons behind this problem. One of the major reasons is carbon emissions in atmosphere. The causes for this global threat are many, among them GHG (green house gas emission) is one of them. Also deforestation, land use change, sulfate aerosol and black carbon are the other major reason leading to the ozone layer depletion and changing climate. Due to the carbon emission atmosphere is being polluted and also so many disasters happen routinely. Atmosphere is getting hot day by day. Due to this unnatural and sudden temperature rise, glaciers are melting, so sudden flash floods occur. Agricultural sector is also suffering due to the global warming effects. This will also affect the productivity of grains world wide. Climate changing increases land and as well as sea temperature and alters precipitation quantity and patterns. As a result increasing the global average sea level, risk of coastal erosions, etc. climate change will be an added stress for the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. Effects will also be severe on coasts and marine ecosystems. Extreme events like drought, flood may also happen due to these impacts. This paper elaborately present the current situation of climate changing and the causes of its vulnerable effects, also the mitigation action of climate changing are also discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the performance of a recently proposed empirical climate model based on astronomical harmonics against all CMIP3 available general circulation climate models (GCM) used by the IPCC (2007) to interpret the 20th century global surface temperature.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the Met Office Hadley Centre climate model HadGSM1 to review recent developments and assess their impact on radiative forcing and equilibrium climate sensitivity.
Abstract: Understanding the role of clouds in climate change remains a considerable challenge. Traditionally, this challenge has been framed in terms of understanding cloud feedback. However, recent work suggests that under increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, clouds not only amplify or dampen climate change through global feedback processes, but also through rapid (days to weeks) tropospheric temperature and land surface adjustments. In this article, we use the Met Office Hadley Centre climate model HadGSM1 to review these recent developments and assess their impact on radiative forcing and equilibrium climate sensitivity. We estimate that cloud adjustment contributes ~0.8 K to the 4.4 K equilibrium climate sensitivity of this particular model. We discuss the methods used to evaluate cloud adjustments, highlight the mechanisms and processes involved and identify low level cloudiness as a key cloud type. Looking forward, we discuss the outstanding issues, such as the application to transient forcing scenarios. We suggest that the upcoming CMIP5 multi-model database will allow a comprehensive assessment of the significance of cloud adjustments in fully coupled atmosphere–ocean-general-circulation models for the first time, and that future research should exploit this opportunity to understand cloud adjustments/feedbacks in non-idealised transient climate change scenarios.
TL;DR: This paper showed that the global growth of new renewable energy post-1990 represents an annual climate-society feedback of ∼ 0.25% per degree increase in global mean temperature, and that future greenhouse-gas emissions need to deviate from a fossil-fuel intensive scenario to avoid dangerous climate change.
Abstract: Future greenhouse-gas emissions need to deviate from a fossil-fuel intensive scenario to avoid dangerous climate change, and this implies feedback links between climate change and societal actions. Research shows that the global growth of new renewable energy post-1990 represents an annual climate–society feedback of ∼ 0.25% per degree increase in global mean temperature.
19 Sep 2012
TL;DR: Singh et al. as discussed by the authors studied the impacts of global warming on climate change and found that the rise in sea level and disaster frequency correlated with the number of hurricanes and floods.
Abstract: © 2012 Singh and Singh, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Study of Impacts of Global Warming on Climate Change: Rise in Sea Level and Disaster Frequency
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that air pollution has significant impacts on global climate change in complex ways, involving both warming and cooling, and causes an estimated one million deaths every year.
Abstract: Ambient air pollution has significant impacts on global climate change in complex ways, involving both warming and cooling, and causes an estimated one million deaths every year. Modeling studies and observations from a suite of platforms, including those that are space based, have revealed that air pollution is a widespread global phenomenon. The net effect of air pollution is a global cooling that is masking 50% of the committed greenhouse gas (GHG) warming from the Industrial Revolution. Aggressive air pollution abatement and climate stabilization strategies that reduce cooling pollutants may lead to a short-term warming surge that is unsafe for ecosystems and the human population, imposing complex trade-offs in policy making. Conversely, selective reduction of warming air pollutants to mitigate near-term climate change may offer opportunities for synergistic policy development. Reducing and preventing the accumulation of fossil-fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is the only sustainable way to...
TL;DR: In this paper, the Community Climate System Model, version 3, is used to evaluate simulations with enhanced CO2 and prescribed stratospheric sulfate to investigate the effects on regional climate.
Abstract: Stratospheric sulfate aerosol injection has been proposed to counteract anthropogenic greenhouse gas warming and prevent regional climate emergencies. Global warming is projected to be largest in the polar regions, where consequences to climate change could be emergent, but where the climate response to global warming is also most uncertain. The Community Climate System Model, version 3, is used to evaluate simulations with enhanced CO2 and prescribed stratospheric sulfate to investigate the effects on regional climate. To further explore the sensitivity of these regions to ocean dynamics, a suite of simulations with and without ocean dynamics is run.The authors find that, when global average warming is roughly canceled by aerosols, temperature changes in the polar regions are still 20%–50% of the changes in a warmed world. Atmospheric circulation anomalies are also not canceled, which affects the regional climate response. It is also found that agreement between simulations with and without ocean...
TL;DR: This article diagnose forcing and climate feedbacks in benchmark sensitivity experiments with the new Met Office Hadley Centre Earth system climate model HadGEM2-ES and identify a strong negative dust-vegetation feedback on climate change that is small in standard carbon dioxide sensitivity experiments due to the physiological/fertilization effects of carbon dioxide on plants in this model.
Abstract: [1] We diagnose forcing and climate feedbacks in benchmark sensitivity experiments with the new Met Office Hadley Centre Earth system climate model HadGEM2-ES. To identify the impact of newly-included biogeophysical and chemical processes, results are compared to a parallel set of experiments performed with these processes switched off, and different couplings with the biogeochemistry. In abrupt carbon dioxide quadrupling experiments we find that the inclusion of these processes does not alter the global climate sensitivity of the model. However, when the change in carbon dioxide is uncoupled from the vegetation, or when the model is forced with a non-carbon dioxide forcing – an increase in solar constant – new feedbacks emerge that make the climate system less sensitive to external perturbations. We identify a strong negative dust-vegetation feedback on climate change that is small in standard carbon dioxide sensitivity experiments due to the physiological/fertilization effects of carbon dioxide on plants in this model.
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01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: As public awareness of the impact of climate change increases, two recent reports demonstrate advances in the science of assessing global warming as mentioned in this paper and make it clear that governments need to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply.
Abstract: As public awareness of the impact of climate change increases, two recent reports demonstrate advances in the science of assessing global warming. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the UK Treasury's Review on the Economics of Climate Change make it clear that governments need to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply.
TL;DR: This article showed that carbon cycle uncertainty is considerably larger than currently recognized and that plausible carbon cycle responses could strongly amplify climate warming This has important implications for societal decisions that relate to climate change risk management because it implies that a given level of human emissions could result in much larger climate changes than we now realize or that stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at a safe level could require lower human emissions than currently understood.
Abstract: Projections of greenhouse gas concentrations over the twenty-first century generally rely on two optimistic, but questionable, assumptions about the carbon cycle: 1) that elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations will enhance terrestrial carbon storage and 2) that plant migration will be fast relative to climate changes This paper demonstrates that carbon cycle uncertainty is considerably larger than currently recognized and that plausible carbon cycle responses could strongly amplify climate warming This has important implications for societal decisions that relate to climate change risk management because it implies that a given level of human emissions could result in much larger climate changes than we now realize or that stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at a “safe” level could require lower human emissions than currently understood These results also suggest that terrestrial carbon cycle responses could be sufficiently strong to account for the changes in atmospheric car
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this article, the authors considered the complexity of climate system and showed that the global annual mean temperature has been rising in sinusoidal-type, similar to a superposition of sine curve and exponential curve, in which a periodicity of about 60 years existed and in the first ~40 years the temperature rose and then it declined or approximately to be constant.
Abstract: Many studies discussed climate change without considering the complexity of climate system. In our view, climate system is a complex and non-linear system. It possesses all properties that a complex system will have, such as non-linearity, chaos, catastrophe, multiple stable or unstable equilibrium states, etc. It is increasingly obvious that the equilibrium state of climate system is being broken by destructive human activities. There are several possibilities that global climate will proceed. We would not exactly predict what outcome will finally occur if destructive human activities continue. In the farther future, in addition to the scenario of continuous warming, there is also possibility that the climate would proceed and reach a new stable or unstable equilibrium state, and the new equilibrium state would be realized in a smooth and continuous way, or realized in an abrupt way by jumping or plummeting. Recent years’ and the coming tens of years’ unusual change in global climate would be a prelude for dramatic climate change in the far future. We found that global annual mean temperature since 1880 has been rising in sinusoidal-type, similar to a superposition of sine curve and exponential curve, in which a periodicity of about 60 years existed and in the first ~40 years the temperature rose and in the second ~20 years it declined or approximately to be constant. Accordingly, we predicted that the global annual mean temperature had reached a peak around 2005, and would decline or be approximately constant until around 2030. Some models, equations and parameters on climate change were also developed based on past hundreds of years’ historical records.
TL;DR: The paleoclimate record suggests that certain aspects of climate change may be difficult to reconcile with a single value of climate sensitivity, and the geological record provides strong support for climate sensitivities in this range, reminding us that a singlevalue is unlikely to provide a complete picture of the climate system's response to forcing.
Abstract: Humanity is engaged in an unprecedented climate experiment, the outcome of which is often framed in terms of an equilibrium “climate sensitivity.” This parameter encapsulates the amount of global warming that may be expected as a result of a doubling of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, which is equivalent to an additional 3.7 W m−2 of energy available to warm Earth's surface ( 1 ). The current best estimate of climate sensitivity is similar to the earliest estimates by Arrhenius ( 2 ) and Callendar ( 3 ), ranging from 2° to 4.5°C ( 4 ). Constraints on the lower limit of this range are much tighter than they are on the upper limit, with small but finite probabilities for very large climate sensitivities ( 4 ). Although the geological record provides strong support for climate sensitivities in this range, it also reminds us that a single value of climate sensitivity is unlikely to provide a complete picture of the climate system's response to forcing.
TL;DR: In this paper, the development of a so-called green sector of the economy is discussed and the drivers and centers of its growth and the problems involved, as well as the challenges involved.
Abstract: The worsening global environmental situation and the growing risk of catastrophic climate change have been triggered, as the majority of scientists agree, by a high level of industrial emissions associated with the use of conventional technologies. A new sector in the world economy, based, first, on using safer and cleaner technologies in the industrial and, in particular, energy spheres and, second, on monitoring and forecasting environmental effects of one economic and industrial activity or another, is now gaining its strength. The paper contemplates the development of a so-called green sector of the economy and discusses the drivers and centers of its growth and the problems involved.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors adopt a political economy approach to examine corporate behaviour in the electricity generation sector and whether private ownership of this sector impacts on state action to reduce emissions, and consider the carbon strategies of four energy companies.
Abstract: If costly and catastrophic climate change is to be avoided, there is an immediate need to stabilize and reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) entering the atmosphere The electricity generation sector, responsible for the highest percentage of the world’s GHGs, is under mounting social and political pressure to minimize its GHG emissions In many countries privatization has resulted in previously vertically integrated public electricity utilities being owned and managed by large energy corporations The implications of electricity privatization for addressing major environmental issues such as climate change were not considered by governments at the time of sale nor have they been widely studied or understood since This article adopts a political economy approach to examine corporate behaviour in the electricity generation sector and whether private ownership of this sector impacts on state action to reduce emissions In examining this issue, we consider the carbon strategies of four energy
TL;DR: A recent expert meeting was held at UNESCO to raise awareness of geoengineering, its potential to counteract climate change and its risks, and to broaden the discussion within the international community as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The deliberate large-scale manipulation of the climate is increasingly being discussed as a potential tool to ensure the basic condition for a sustainable future: a habitable climate. While far from the ideal solution, the rate of climate change continues to outpace our attempts at a response, prompting some scientists and politicians to call for the consideration of climate engineering or geoengineering to avoid catastrophic climate change, while political processes to reduce greenhouse gases catch up. A November 2010 expert meeting was held at UNESCO to raise awareness of geoengineering, its potential to counteract climate change and its risks, and to broaden the discussion within the international community. Potential geoengineering methods include solar radiation management and carbon dioxide removal techniques that are largely theoretical and remain untested, despite a long history. Responsible research can only proceed, and informed decisions be made, once governance structures have been developed beyond mere principles insufficient to guide researchers and policy makers. At the same time, realistic communication on these activities must increase and improve so that civil society can play a role in determining acceptable levels and types of human intervention. Appropriate geoengineering research should be considered for solar geoengineering methods that promise to quickly and affordably decrease global mean temperature, and for carbon geoengineering methods that target the core problem of climate change by directly removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A small cadre of scientists and policy makers has advanced the discussion of geoengineering and its likely impacts, but the path to a sustainable future cannot be charted until the wider international community asks some fundamental questions about what kind of regulation is appropriate, how it should be implemented and by whom and at what cost. This task is urgent, and only by raising awareness of geoengineering can we secure the participation of the international community in developing governance structures and ensuring that responsible research on geoengineering proceeds in a timely and consensual manner.