Lecture

1.5 vs 2.0 °C, carbon budget, metrics

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In course

ENV-410: Science of climate change

The course equips students with a comprehensive scientific understanding of climate change covering a wide range of topics from physical principles, historical climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, the IPCC assessment to future scenarios and climate ac ...

Description

This lecture discusses the impact of limiting global warming to 1.5°C versus 2.0°C, exploring the carbon budget, climate metrics, and the concept of tipping elements. It covers the remaining carbon budget, the importance of reducing emissions, and the implications of the Paris Agreement. The instructor explains the concept of tipping elements in the Earth system and the potential irreversible changes associated with exceeding critical thresholds. Additionally, the lecture delves into the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of different greenhouse gases, the Kyoto Protocol's approach to emissions reduction, and the challenges in approximating CO2-equivalents. The audience gains insights into the urgency of emission reductions, the role of different gases in global warming, and the metrics used to quantify climate change impacts.

Instructor

Julia Schmale

Expertise atmospheric science, aerosol-cloud interactions, climate change in polar regions Mission Extreme environments are particularly sensitive to climate change and are transforming at accelerated rates. This can have important global repercussions. EERL aims to create integrated process understanding by investigating interactions between the atmosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, ocean, land and anthroposphere. The goal is to characterize climate-change relevant and vertically-resolved processes that are d

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Environmental science

Climate: Climate change mitigation, Climate change

Related concepts (32)

Effects of climate change

Climate change affects the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. Changes in the climate system include an overall warming trend, more extreme weather and rising sea levels. These in turn impact nature and wildlife, as well as human settlements and societies. The effects of human-caused climate change are broad and far-reaching, especially if significant climate action is not taken. The projected and observed negative impacts of climate change are sometimes referred to as the climate crisis.

Carbon emission trading

Emission trading (ETS) for carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHG) is a form of carbon pricing; also known as cap and trade (CAT) or carbon pricing. It is an approach to limit climate change by creating a market with limited allowances for emissions. This can lower competitiveness of fossil fuels and accelerate investments into low carbon sources of energy such as wind power and photovoltaics. Fossil fuels are the main driver for climate change. They account for 89% of all CO2 emissions and 68% of all GHG emissions.

Greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gases are those gases in the atmosphere that raise the surface temperature of planets such as the Earth. What distinguishes them from other gases is that they absorb the wavelengths of radiation that a planet emits, resulting in the greenhouse effect. The Earth is warmed by sunlight, causing its surface to radiate heat, which is then mostly absorbed by water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), methane (), nitrous oxide (), and ozone (). Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature of Earth's surface would be about , rather than the present average of .

Greenhouse gas emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions (abbreviated as GHG emissions) from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, is one of the most important factors in causing climate change. The largest emitters are China followed by the US, although the United States has higher emissions per capita. The main producers fueling the emissions globally are large oil and gas companies.

Economic analysis of climate change

The economic analysis of climate change explains how economic thinking, tools and techniques are applied to calculate the magnitude and distribution of damage caused by climate change. It also informs the policies and approaches for mitigation and adaptation to climate change from global to household scales. This topic is also inclusive of alternative economic approaches, including ecological economics and degrowth. Economic analysis of climate change is considered challenging as it is a long-term problem and has substantial distributional issues within and across countries.

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