* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Dear Gary Johnson
Climate change denial wikipedia , lookup
Citizens' Climate Lobby wikipedia , lookup
Soon and Baliunas controversy wikipedia , lookup
Low-carbon economy wikipedia , lookup
Climate engineering wikipedia , lookup
Climate sensitivity wikipedia , lookup
Climate change in Tuvalu wikipedia , lookup
Climatic Research Unit documents wikipedia , lookup
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change wikipedia , lookup
General circulation model wikipedia , lookup
Fred Singer wikipedia , lookup
Climate change adaptation wikipedia , lookup
Media coverage of global warming wikipedia , lookup
Climate change and agriculture wikipedia , lookup
Instrumental temperature record wikipedia , lookup
Climate governance wikipedia , lookup
German Climate Action Plan 2050 wikipedia , lookup
Global warming controversy wikipedia , lookup
Climate change mitigation wikipedia , lookup
Effects of global warming on humans wikipedia , lookup
Economics of global warming wikipedia , lookup
Physical impacts of climate change wikipedia , lookup
Global warming hiatus wikipedia , lookup
Climate change and poverty wikipedia , lookup
Kyoto Protocol and government action wikipedia , lookup
Effects of global warming wikipedia , lookup
Effects of global warming on Australia wikipedia , lookup
Solar radiation management wikipedia , lookup
Mitigation of global warming in Australia wikipedia , lookup
Climate change, industry and society wikipedia , lookup
Paris Agreement wikipedia , lookup
Economics of climate change mitigation wikipedia , lookup
Scientific opinion on climate change wikipedia , lookup
Attribution of recent climate change wikipedia , lookup
Climate change in the United States wikipedia , lookup
Kyoto Protocol wikipedia , lookup
2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference wikipedia , lookup
Global warming wikipedia , lookup
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme wikipedia , lookup
Surveys of scientists' views on climate change wikipedia , lookup
Years of Living Dangerously wikipedia , lookup
Public opinion on global warming wikipedia , lookup
Climate change feedback wikipedia , lookup
Business action on climate change wikipedia , lookup
GHG Science, Law and Policy History 1. The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. 2. The IPCC provides policy makers with assessment of the current state of climate change. a. There are more than 150 participating countries. 3. The IPCC evaluates current research. It does not carry out its own original research. a. A main activity of the IPCC is to publish assessment reports (ARs) on topics relevant to the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (see below). b. ARs are published about every six years. AR1 was published in 1990, AR4 was published in 2007, and AR5 was published in 2013. 4. For AR5, more than 830 expert authors and editors, representing 85 countries, prepared drafts for the three working groups – Physical Science, Mitigation, and Adaptation. Additionally, a Synthesis Report was prepared summarizing these voluminous documents. a. Authors, who donate their time, are selected on the basis of their expertise in consultation with all member countries and include experts in the fields of meteorology, physics, oceanography, statistics, engineering, ecology, social sciences and economics. b. After completion of the draft documents, thousands of reviewers together provided over 142,000 comments on AR5. Review editors worked with the authors insure that each comment was treated properly and honestly in the revisions. 5. A few conclusions from AR5: a. “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia.” b. “Human influence has been detected in warming of the atmosphere and the ocean, in changes in the global water cycle, in deductions in show and ice, in global mean sea level rise, and in changes in some climate extremes. This evidence for human influence has grown since AR4. It is extremely likely (probability >95%) that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.” i. In 2007 AR4 concluded, “Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely (probability >90%) due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.” ii. In 2001 AR3 concluded that “most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is likely (probability >67%) to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations.” (Italics mine). 1 6. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was opened for signature at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio and committed signatories' governments to a voluntary "non-binding aim" to reduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases with the goal of "preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with Earth's climate system." a. These actions were aimed primarily at industrialized countries, with the intention of stabilizing their emissions of GHGs at 1990 levels by the year 2000. b. The Senate consented to ratification on October 7, 1992 and President G.H.W. Bush signed the instrument of ratification October 13, 1992. c. UNFCCC entered into force March 21, 1994. 7. Conference of the Parties (COP) a. In 1995 signatories began meeting annually for the purpose of developing further agreements to implement the goals of the UNFCCC b. At COP-3 in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted by the parties. c. COP-20 was held in Caracas, VZ. d. COP-21 will be held in Paris in December. 8. The Kyoto Protocol: a. The goal was to reduce GHG emissions to 5% below 1990 levels by the year 2012. i. This amounted to about a 30% reduction by 2012 based on GHG trajectories. b. Required member countries to quantify and reduce (or in some cases, increase) their GHG emissions by a preset amount by the year 2012 i. Individual country goals ranged from an increased output of 15% (Spain) to 0% reduction (Russia) to 21% reduction (Germany). The proposed reduction goal for the U.S. was 7%. c. Promoted Cap and Trade market mechanisms. d. Kyoto went into effect on 2/16/05 and expired at the end of 2012. e. The U.S. never ratified the Kyoto Protocol. 9. AB 32 – California Global Warming Solution Act of 2006 a. Required ARB to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. i. This represents approximately 25% reduction based on current trajectories. b. Mandated the monitoring and annual reporting of GHG emissions by all sources “of significance.” c. Mandated the development and implementation of GHG emission reduction measures. d. Delegated broad authority to the CARB to implement these mandates in accordance with an aggressive series of deadlines. 2