Reports Catalogue Worsening Impacts of Climate Change
Obama Sets a Target for US GHG Cuts
US, India to Cooperate on Clean Energy
NY Seeks RFPs for Offshore Wind in Great Lakes
NREL Report Relates State Policies to Clean Energy Development
Affordable Green Housing Gets Boost from Billion-Dollar Funds
California Approves Television Efficiency Standards
New Reports Catalogue Worsening Impacts of Climate Change
Two recent compendiums of climate change science compiled by leading climate scientists show the impacts of climate change are happening sooner and at a greater magnitude than previously thought.
The two reports are the latest attempts to update climate science since the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Fourth Assessment Report, released in 2007. The first new report, released in late September by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is titled "Climate Change Science Compendium 2009," and the second, released in late November by 26 climate researchers, is called "The Copenhagen Diagnosis, 2009: Updating the World on the Latest Climate Science." Both are based on published, peer-reviewed climate science.
Both reports reach the same conclusions - that Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are losing mass and contributing to sea level rise at an increasing rate; that Arctic sea ice has melted far beyond climate model expectations; and that global sea-level rise may well exceed 1 meter by 2100, with an upper limit of 2 meters now considered to be the upper range for sea-level rise by 2100.
Both reports also note that carbon emissions from fossil fuels were 40% higher in 2008 than in 1990. The increasing emissions are causing the window in which to reduce emissions to narrow. According to the reports, if emissions are maintained at today's levels for the next 20 years, the possibility of limiting global warming to less than 2°C will disappear, leading to disastrous consequences. The comprehensive UNEP report also warns of ocean acidification, melting mountain glaciers, and the possibility that "tipping points" in the climate could soon be reached. See the Copenhagen Diagnosis press release, which links to the full report, the UNEP press release, and the UNEP report, which was updated in late October.
Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) finds that atmospheric concentrations of GHG continue to increase. The WMO's "Greenhouse Gas Bulletin 2008," released in late November, finds that "radiative forcing," or greenhouse effect, caused by all long-lived greenhouse gases increased 1.3% from 2007-2008, and has increased 26% since 1990.
In 2008, the average concentration of carbon dioxide globally was 385.2 parts per million (ppm), an increase of 2 ppm from 2007, while methane increased to 1,797 parts per billion (ppb), an increase of 7 ppb above 2007 levels. After staying stable from 1999 to 2006, methane concentrations showed significant increases in 2007 and 2008. Nitrous oxide and refrigerants are also on the rise. The report is troubling in light of the "Carbon Budget 2008," a report released in mid-November by the Global Carbon Project, which found that carbon emissions are now overwhelming natural "sinks" that absorb carbon, such as the ocean. See the WMO press release and report and the Carbon Budget 2008.
President Obama Sets Target for U.S. GHG Emissions Cuts
On November 25, the White House announced that President Obama is offering a U.S. target for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the range of 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. The proposed target is based on the limit set by climate legislation that has passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but the U.S. Senate is currently considering a bill that cuts GHG emissions by 20%. The White House said the final target will fall in line with climate legislation. Pending legislation also includes targets of 30% below 2005 levels by 2025 and 42% below 2005 levels by 2030.
