Transcript Status of Climate Change 2013 - Clean Air Through Energy

Status of Climate Change
2013
CaTee Conference
San Antonio
2013
Menu for Today
•
•
•
•
IPCC 2013: Assessment Report #5
Facts about Climate Change
Who will Win, Who will Lose
What Needs to be Done
IPCC #5
• No great surprises - Sharper language
• Uncertainties are still large
• Essentially no change in Projections
except Sea Level Change expected higher
than #4
• No Change for Hurricanes, Severe
Weather – still very uncertain
• Ocean Acidification more certain, probably
more serious
Facts about Climate Change
Ten Year Climatology from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
Climate Change:
The arid
subtropics will
expand
IPCC #5 future Climate Change
Oceans become More Acidic due to Dissolving CO2
Winners & Losers
Managed vs. Unmanaged Systems
Which
sectors are
growing?
From: The Climate Casino by William Nordhaus, 2013
From: The Climate Casino by William Nordhaus, 2013
What Needs to be Done
Sources of the CO2
From: The Climate Casino by William Nordhaus, 2013
From: The Climate Casino by William Nordhaus, 2013
From: The Climate Casino by William Nordhaus, 2013
Conclusions
•Climate is changing, no doubt
•It will get warmer, more arid in most
subtropical areas: water problems
•Ocean will get more acidic: extinctions
•Mitigation is imperative, but adaptation
must play a role
•Coal burning is the main emitter of CO2
world-wide
•We need market mechanisms to curb it
•Poor countries will suffer most because of
vulnerabilities: migration, war
•The really difficult problem is with
problems that involve values we cherish,
but cannot be quantified.