(M2) 14b - Climate Change Flashcards
Overall impacts, trends, and predicted changes due to climate change in:
- Current warming
- Food availability
- Marine taxonomic groups
- Changes in annual precipitation
- Changes in soil moisture
- Trend in ocean acidification
- Trend in sea level change
- Predicted changes in ecosystems
- Predicted changes for humans
- Current warming since 1960
- land and ocean
- across warming levels, land areas warm more than oceans, and the Arctic and Antarctica warm more than the tropics - Food availability
- change in crop yields
- wheat and corn are doing the worse
- land will get drier; must improve drought resistance
- southern hemisphere affected more bc fisheries are affected - Marine taxonomic groups
- marine organisms moving to the poles bc current habitats are getting too warm - Changes in annual precipitation
- projected to increase over high latitudes - Changes in soil moisture
- across warming levels, changes in soil moisture largely follow changes in precipitation but also show some difference due to the influence of evapotranspiration - Trend in ocean acidification
- increase in acidification - Trend in sea level change
- increase - Predicted changes in ecosystems
- increased pests and fires in boreal forests
- thawing of permafrost
- species extinctions, both in the prairies and boreal forest
- increased drought (water scarcity) - Predicted changes for humans
- inability for energy production to keep up with demand
- heat-related health problems
- decreased work productivity due to heat
- displacement and destructions due to extreme weather events
- violence over deterioration of resource-based livelihoods
What are 5 reasons why dealing with climate difficult?
- Global problem
- requires unprecedented and prolonged international cooperation - Long-term political issue
- most ppl who will suffer most serious harm have not been born yet - Harmful and beneficial impacts of climate change not spread evenly worldwide
- Proposed solutions can be controversial
- Projected effects are uncertain
- difficult to plan for avoiding or managing risk
- urgent need for more research to reduce uncertainty
Role and importance of the IPCC and Paris Agreement
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
- Created by the UN Environment Programme
- World’s top authority on climate science
- Scientists lay out the “state of knowledge” on climate change by summarizing current and relevant findings in the field
- Reports must remain neutral on policies and do not suggest any particular political action —> they focus on spelling out scientific findings that help policymaking decisions —> IPCC cannot tell leaders what to do, only what can be done
The Paris Agreement
- From the UN Climate Change in Paris (2015)
- Legally binding international treaty that entered into force on 4 November 2016
- 192 countries plus the European Union have joined
- Sets long-term goals to guide all nations:
= reduce global GHG emissions to limit global temp increases in this century to 2 degrees
= additional efforts to limit the increase even further to 1.5 degree
= review countries’ commitments every 5 yrs
= provide financing to developing countries to mitigate climate change and adapt to climate impacts
Some solutions to slow climate change
- Changes in energy production (less fossil fuels)
- Carbon pricing
- Decrease land use for livestock by decreasing demand in animal products
- Targeting CH4 emissions first (methane-capturing system —> controversial)
- Carbon capturing and storage system
- Policy making and assessment
Changes in energy production
Solutions: ditch the coal, go for solar and other renewable forms of energy
Carbon pricing (carbon taxes and cap-and-trade system)
Problem: Industry
Solution: Tax it.
- industry will always find a way to reduce cots
- if Co2 production is expensive, they will reduce emissions
2 Carbon Pricing Mechanisms:
1. Federal fuel charges (carbon tax): woks by applying a tax on the sale of fossil fuels, based on C content
2. Federal baseline and credit system for industrial facilities: allows to release a baseline amount of emissions per unit of product produced
- cap-and-trade system
Carbon or energy taxes
- Idea: tax pollution while lowering taxes on payrolls and profits
- For businesses, companies, industries, but also individuals
How it works:
= gov establishes a tax rate per unit of emissions
= tax is applied to entities that emit carbon
= those entities pay a fee based on the amount of emissions they produce
= tax generates revenue that is managed by the gov
Objectives
= reducing emissions
= promotes innovation and investment in clean and low-C technologies
= Governments are encouraged to create a “sustainability fund”
Advantages
- simple to administer
- clean price on C
- covers all emitters
- predictable revenues
Disadvantages
- tax laws can get complex
- vulnerable to loopholes
- doesn’t guarantee lower emissions
- politically unpopular
Cap on total human-generated CO2 and CH4 emissions by a country or region
- Cap-and-trade (or emissions trading)
- For businesses, companies, industries
How it works:
- Gov establishes an overall cap on emissions
- Gov allocates a certain number of emission allowances to businesses and industries
- companies and industries can trade emission allowances
- annual evaluation of compliance
- penalties (fines) for companies that exceed their emissions
Objectives
- reducing emissions
- flexibility to companies to adjust
- economically efficient by creating a mkt for emissions allowances
- promotes innovation and investment in clean and low-C tech
Advantages
- clear legal limit on emissions
- rewards cuts in emissions
- record of success
- low expense for consumers
Disadvantages
- revenues not predictable
- vulnerable to cheating
- rich polluters keep polluting
- puts variable price on C
Decrease land use for livestock by decreasing demand in animal products
- Why?
- Solution
Problem: Agriculture, forestry, and other land use
- Livestock contribute 14.5% of human-made GHG emissions
- Enteric fermentation from ruminant animals contributes nearly 40% of livestock GHGs
- Emissions related to manure contribute around 25%
- Production of animal feed contributes around 13%
Solution: eat fewer animal products
- reduce meat and dairy consumption
- make fruit and veg a bigger part of diet
- buy sustainable or organic fresh products whenever possible
Targeting CH4 emissions first
Methane is 4x stronger GHG than CO2, so why not convert it to CO2, gaining useable energy
- focus on CH4 emissions
- capturing atmospheric Ch4 and converting it to less potent CO2
- more CO2 ends up in the air…not getting rid of emissions, just emitting a less powerful gas to slow down what is happening
Carbon capturing and storage system
Removing CO2 from the atmosphere, strategies:
- massive, global tree-planting and forest restoration
- restore wetlands drained for farming
- plant fast-growing perennials on degraded land
- produce and bury biochar (biomass) in the soil
- capture and store C from fossil fuel-burning plants
How does CSS work?
1. Capture from where it’s being produced
2. Transport to a storage site
3. Storage through injection deep underground (isolated from the atmosphere)
Policy making and assessment
- How departmental strategies are intended to contribute to the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy
- Federal gov’s efforts are assessed on 4 fronts
How departmental strategies are intended to contribute to the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy
- Goals: are aspirational results that reflect Canada’s domestic and international priorities and commitments
- Targets: are measurable objectives that contribute to each goal
- Actions: set out what the federal government will do to achieve the targets
Federal government’s efforts are assessed on 4 fronts:
1. Reducing GHG emissions
2. Adapting to climate change
3. Eliminating subsidies to fossil fuel
4. Promoting clean energy
