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Dealing with Climate Change

Dealing with Climate Change. Dr Jan Wright Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. Outline. Climate change science and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Dealing with climate change Putting a price on carbon “Believing” in climate change.

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Dealing with Climate Change

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  1. Dealing with Climate Change Dr Jan Wright Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment

  2. Outline • Climate change science and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) • Dealing with climate change • Putting a price on carbon • “Believing” in climate change

  3. greenhouse gases trap heat

  4. Greenhouse Earth in Action CO2 concentration temperature

  5. How do we know what’s happening? The IPCC assesses the science The 2007 IPCC report • 2,500 + scientific expert reviewers • 800+ contributing authors • 450+ lead authors from • 130+ different countries • 6 years of work • 4 volumes

  6. ………and the IPCC says: “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal”

  7. nature what happened nature + humans

  8. Climate change varies across the planet Difference in surface temperature 1951 - 1980 versus 2000 – 2007.

  9. Grizzly-Polar bear cross Thames barrier

  10. This is serious! • With more than 2o warming, there is significant risk of irreversible catastrophe • Need to limit greenhouse gas concentrations to 450 ppm to limit warming to 2o • But currently on track to exceed this considerably

  11. Responding to Climate Change • Adaptation coping with the impacts of climate change • Mitigation reducing the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere • Research understanding the problem and solutions

  12. Adaptation • Acute • Chronic

  13. Mitigation • International Agreements – targets and binding commitments • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions • Remove carbon from the atmosphere (sequestration)

  14. Mitigation is hard Tragedy of the Commons Problem is global and intergenerational Collective action – “I will if you will”

  15. Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions • Voluntary change • Regulation • Economic instrument

  16. Why put a price on carbon? • Greenhouse gas emissions are associated with all goods and services • Working out the emissions for everything is impossibly complicated • Carbon price lets the economy do the calculations for us

  17. Invisible, silent, tasteless, odourless, and intangible The political challenge of pricing carbon emissions Hard enough raising an existing tax let alone putting a price on something that has been free

  18. P Q Two ways of pricing carbon • Carbon tax – fix P, Q emerges • Cap and trade – fix Q, P emerges • Reality - hybrids

  19. New Zealand Australia very different to • Different challenges • Both bringing in emissions trading schemes

  20. What’s happened in NZ • Labour Government: - Emissions Trading Scheme in 2008 includes all sectors, all gases • National Government: • Review of ETS by Select Committee • ETS Amendment Bill

  21. What’s happened in Australia • Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Not all sectors, all gases - excludes agriculture and deforestation Rejected by the Senate August 2009, probably back to the Senate soon.

  22. Believing in climate change • >40% in UK and >50% in USA refuse to accept our emissions are changing the climate • How do we generate a shared belief in the reality of climate change?

  23. Questions?

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