Climate Change - Problem

Question 1

Recent NYT Article

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Synthesis Report

Answer 2

• latest released in March 2023

Question 3

Climate Change Effects

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - Synthesis Report - First Headline Statement

Answer 4

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).

Question 5

IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - Synthesis Report - Second Headline Statement

Answer 5

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).”

Question 6

Climate Change - Broad Categories of Policy Strategies

Answer 6

• mitigation
• adaptation

Question 7

Mitigation - General Concept

Answer 7

• seeking to prevent/avoid climate change
• those activities meant to “reduce the sources of greenhouse gases or enhance the sinks”

Question 8

UNFCCC

Answer 8

• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Question 9

Adaptation - General Concept

Answer 9

• 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

Question 10

Sequestration

Answer 10

• 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

Question 11

3 Major Categories of Mitigation Discussed in Textbook

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

Techniques and Technologies for Emissions Reduction

Answer 12

• efficiency
• fuel switching
• sinks, carbon capture, + storage
• renewable + alternative energy
• food + consumption changes
• land use changes
• reducing short-lived climate pollutants (targeting specific pollutants)

Question 13

Mitigation - Regulatory Choices

Answer 13

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

Question 14

General Approaches of Int Climate Change Instruments Thus Far

Answer 14

• 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

Question 15

Adaptation - Rationales for Considering This

Answer 15

• 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)

Question 16

Who should pay for adaptation?

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

Examples of Adaptation

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

Intersection of Adaptation with Other Issues

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

Stabilization Goal

Answer 19

• 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)

Question 20

Mitigation Goals

Answer 20

• 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)

Question 21

Paris Agreement - General Approach

Answer 21

• 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)

Question 22

Examples of Traditional Regulatory Policies in Climate Context

Answer 22

• restrictions on power plant emissions
• renewable portfolio standards
• energy or fuel efficiency standards
• carbon capture + storage reqs

Question 23

Carbon Taxes

Answer 23

• 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

Question 24

Subsidies

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

Climate Finance

Answer 25

- developed countries promised $100 billion per yr in climate finance to help developing countries support ambitious climate-related actions, but financial commitments have been slow to turn into financial flows

Question 26

Stabilization Wedges

Answer 26

- identified in excerpt in textbook (Pacala + Socolow) - some not ideal (ex: oone says replace 1400 coal electric plants w/ natural gas-powered facilities) Ones I liked though: - decrease # of car miles traveled by half - use best efficiency practices in all residential and commercial buildings - increase wind electric capacity by 10 times relative to today - install 100 times the current capacity of solar electricity - adopt conservation tillage in all agricultural soils worldwide

Question 27

Project Drawdown

Answer 27

Top 10 Solutions in Pursuit of 1.5 Scenario - onshore wind turbines - utility-scale solar - reduced food waste - plant-rich diets - health + education - restored tropical forests - improved cookstoves - distributed solar - refrigerant management - alternative refrigerants

Question 28

A Trillion Trees Initiative

Answer 28

- Afforestation can potentially capture massive amounts of CO2 if done properly + at large enough scale 2019 – article in Science suggested planting a trillion trees could capture + store approx. ¼ of current atmospheric carbon ->World Economic Forum announced plan to grow, restore + conserve 1 trillion trees around world – restore biodiversity + help fight climate change ->BUT other scientists questioned the 2019 article – put carbon savings at 1/5 the original claim ->Other concerns from critics: Growing trees in savannahs or frozen north could actually increase global warming Large-scale tree plantations could supplant efforts to conserve or restore remaining natural forests -> better to emphasize conserving native forests + securing Indigenous peoples’ tenure over the land - Others have adopted the trillion trees goal (including 3 conservation groups – WWF, World Conservation Society, + Birdlife International) but w/ less focus on planting - Preforestation – protects existing forests to allow trees to grow to their full ecological + carbon sequestration potential

Question 29

Geoengineering

Answer 29

- intentional, large-scale manipulation of the planet's climate - includes GHG removal techniques + solar radiation management - concern that some proposals have potential for significant unintended negative consequences