On May 4, 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released Volume 3 of its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). This volume, entitled "Mitigation of Climate Change," builds upon the information and analysis presented in the AR4's first two volumes. Having found evidence of global warming and its potential dangers in these earlier reports, the IPCC has now turned its attention towards addressing the problem.
Read more about the IPCC's earlier findings by accessing EarthTrends' News posts on Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the AR4.
While climate change poses significant challenges, the volume notes that dealing with this looming crisis is both economically and technologically feasible. In fact, IPCC analysts estimate that stabilizing global greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations by 2050 could be accomplished for as little as 1% of global gross domestic product.
Possible Climate Change Mitigation Measures
According to the authors of Volume 3, continuing "business as usual," would result in an estimated 45% to 110% rise in global GHG emissions between 2000 and 2030. Furthermore, delay in addressing the issue means that societies will continue investing in emissions-intensive infrastructure, making future emissions cuts all the more difficult. Given these findings, further inaction on climate change is no longer an option.
Fortunately, the report offers a number of concrete proposals for avoiding this dangerous future. The changes it advocates involve employing "technologies and practices" to reduce emissions that are commercially available and cost-effective. Notable examples include:
- Improved Energy Supply and Distribution Efficiency: Investing in cleaner and more efficient energy infrastructure can create long-term opportunities for achieving GHG emissions reductions. Measures of this nature could involve replacing coal with natural gas, expanding the use of nuclear power, and using renewable energy sources such as hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy. Increasing end-use energy efficiency in order to reduce total demand is also a highly cost-effective approach.
- Smarter Transportation Policy: The transport sector is a major emissions generator. And transport-related pollution will only increase as more developing country residents are able to afford automobiles. By increasing fuel efficiency, promoting public transportation, and using land-use planning to reduce the need for travel, emissions increases from this sector can be offset.
- Increased Energy Efficiency of New and Existing Buildings: Most current buildings are highly energy inefficient. By combining power-saving lighting and electrical appliances with better insulation and building design, significant carbon emission reductions in this area are possible
- Changes in Agricultural Practices: While not always associated with climate change, agriculture is an important source of GHGs. By modifying land management techniques, the soil's natural carbon sequestration ability can be maintained and strengthened. Considerable mitigation potential is also available through reducing methane and nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural systems such as rice farming.
- Better Forest Management: Forest-related mitigation activities can considerably reduce emissions. In fact, about 65% of the total mitigation potential is located in the tropics and about 50% of the total could be achieved by reducing emissions from deforestation.
Importantly, many of these initiatives also possess what the report terms "co-benefits." Examples include employment and income generation, biodiversity and watershed conservation, poverty alleviation, and improvements in public health. These positive side-effects provide even more incentive to pursue the aggressive climate change mitigation strategies advocated by the report's authors.
Moving Forward
As noted above, the vast majority of these proposals are already economically and technologically feasible. Nevertheless, significant political will is required to convert these ideas into reality. This will involve a decision-making process that, in the words of the report, balances the "economic costs of more rapid emission reductions now against the corresponding medium-term and long-term climate risks of delay." Getting this calculus correct is one of the most important issues facing policy makers in all countries of the world.
RELATED LINKS:
Summary of Climate Change 2007: Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (pdf)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
NASA's Global Change Master Directory
Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
World Resources Institute's Climate Analysis Indicators Tool
Map of Climate Change and Vulnerability in Africa from UNEP/GRID-Arendal
WRI's Efforts to Combat Climate Change Using the "Wedges Approach"
EarthTrends
Climate and Atmosphere Searchable Database
Data Table: Global Climate Trends 2005
Data Table: Carbon Dioxide Emissions by Source 2005
February 2007 Monthly Update: Polar Warming and Its Global Consequences
News Post: IPCC Releases Comprehensive Assessment of Global Climate Change
