Climate Change a Risk Assessment
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CLIMATE CHANGE A RISK ASSESSMENT David King, Daniel Schrag, Zhou Dadi, Qi Ye and Arunabha Ghosh Project Manager: Simon Sharpe Edited by James Hynard and Tom Rodger, Centre for Science and Policy NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using data from NASA/GSFC/METI/ ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./JapanASTER Science Team. Hosts of the project workshops Sponsors China National Expert Committee on Climate Change ABOUT THE AUTHORS Sir David King is the UK Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for Climate Change, and was formerly the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser. He has authored over 500 papers on chemical physics and on science and policy, and his university positions have included Professor of Physical Chemistry at Cambridge University, and Founding Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University. Professor Daniel P. Schrag is Director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment, and serves on the US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. He is the Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology and Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, and studies energy technology and policy as well as geochemistry and climatology. He has received several honors including a MacArthur Fellowship. Professor Zhou Dadi is a member of the China National Expert Committee on Climate Change, and was formerly Director General of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission of the Government of China. He is a specialist in energy economics and energy systems analysis, sustainable energy strategy, energy conservation, and climate change policy. Professor Qi Ye is Director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Centre for Public Policy at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, and a Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution. He is an expert on China’s policies on climate change, the environment, energy, natural resources, biodiversity, and on the theory and practice of sustainable development. CLIMATE CHANGE Dr Arunabha Ghosh is the CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), one of India’s top-ranked climate think-tanks. He is an expert in climate, energy, water and environment policy, economics and governance, has presented to parliaments including those of India, Europe and Brazil, and to heads of state, and has previously worked at Princeton and Oxford Universities, United Nations Development Programme and World Trade Organization. He is a A RISK ASSESSMENT founding Board member of the Clean Energy Access Network and on the Board of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development. This report was edited and produced by the Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) at the University of Cambridge. CSaP’s mission is to promote the use of expertise and evidence in public policy by convening its unique network of academics David King, Daniel Schrag, Zhou Dadi, and policy makers. Qi Ye and Arunabha Ghosh STATUS OF THIS REPORT Project Manager: Simon Sharpe Edited by James Hynard and Tom Rodger, Sir David King led this project in his official capacity as the UK Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for Climate Change. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office commissioned this report as an independent contribution to the climate Centre for Science and Policy change debate. Its contents represent the views of the authors, and should not be taken to represent the views of the UK Government. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wish to thank all of those who contributed their time and expertise to this project, including the contributing authors to this report, and also those participants in our meetings whose names are not listed here, but whose valuable insights have contributed to our analysis. We wish to thank the sponsors of the project, including the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the China National Expert Committee on Climate Change, the UK Government Office for Science, the Skoll Global Threats Fund, the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, and Willis Research Network, for their generous support. Special thanks are also due to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change Science team, China Meteorological Administration, the CNA Corporation, and the Climate Change Science Institute at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, for their support to specific aspects of the project. We also wish to thank all the following individuals for their practical, intellectual and moral support, which has made this project possible: James Ballantyne, Oliver Bettis, Steven Bickers, Shourjomoy Chattopadhyay, Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Partha Hosts of the project workshops Dasgupta, Hem Himanshu Dholakia, John Edwards, Vaibhav Gupta, Pradyot C. Haldar, Frances Hooper, Paulette Hunter Okulo, Anil Jain, Aarti Katyal, Sindhushree Khullar, Anthony W. King, Sylvia Lee, Stephan Lewandowsky, Amy Luers, Luo Yong, Lisa Matthews, Bessma Mourad, Chris Nicholson, Harriet O’Brien, Dennis Pamlin, Bob Phillipson, Benjamin L. Preston, Aditya Ramji, Sudatta Ray, Denise Sadler, Sayantan Sarkar, Mihir Shah, Surbhi Singhvi, Morgan Slebos, Wang Mengni, Nicola Willey, Ken Wright, Zhang Jiansong, Zheng Qi, Zhu Songli. Sponsors China National Expert Committee on Climate Change CONTENTS MINISTERIAL FOREWORD 6 16 GLOBAL SEA LEVEL RISE 99 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8 17 LARGE-SCALE ABRUPT OR IRREVERSIBLE CHANGES 103 1 INTRODUCTION 14 18 CONCLUDING COMMENTS 107 2 PRINCIPLES AND SCOPE OF THIS RISK ASSESSMENT 18 RISK ASSESSMENT PART 3: SYSTEMIC RISKS 109 RISK ASSESSMENT PART 1: EMISSIONS 28 19 INTRODUCTION 110 3 HISTORY AND PURPOSE OF THE IPCC SCENARIOS 29 20 EXTREME WEATHER AND RESILIENCE OF THE GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM 113 4 TOWARDS A RISK-BASED PERSPECTIVE ON EMISSIONS SCENARIOS 31 21 CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY 120 5 THE IMPLICATIONS OF CURRENT POLICIES AND PLANS FOR 32 SHORT-TERM EMISSIONS RISK ASSESSMENT PART 4: VALUE 130 6 TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGES THAT WILL DETERMINE FUTURE 37 22 ECONOMICS 131 GLOBAL EMISSIONS 23 ETHICS 134 7 CONCLUSIONS 42 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CONTINUING RISK 137 RISK ASSESSMENT PART 2: DIRECT RISKS 44 ASSESSMENT 8 INTRODUCTION: A LONG-TERM RISK ASSESSMENT APPROACH TO 45 CLIMATE SCIENCE RISK REDUCTION: ELEMENTS OF A PROPORTIONATE 140 9 GLOBAL TEMPERATURE INCREASE 50 RESPONSE 10 THE RISK OF HEAT STRESS TO PEOPLE 57 24 TECHNOLOGY 141 11 THE RISKS OF CLIMATE CHANGE FOR CROP PRODUCTION 65 25 FINANCE 143 12 THE RISK OF WATER STRESS 74 26 POLITICS 146 13 THE RISK OF DROUGHT 84 27 CLOSING THOUGHTS 148 14 THE RISK OF RIVER FLOODING 88 15 THE RISKS OF SEA LEVEL RISE FOR COASTAL CITIES 94 ANNEXES 150 6 CLIMATE CHANGE: A RISK ASSESSMENT CLIMATE CHANGE: A RISK ASSESSMENT 7 MINISTERIAL FOREWORD Just as our assessment of the risk needs to be holistic, so too does our response. Responding to the risk of climate change will demand technological innovation, financial investment and political leadership. Each of these elements must be brought together to produce a response that is both proportionate and effective. We are beginning to see some positive progress. Technological innovation has dramatically cut the costs of The Rt Hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns renewable energy, increasing its share of global energy investment. In turn, more and more countries are Minister of State, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office taking policy steps to reduce their emissions and the Paris conference at the end of this year presents an opportunity to scale up our global response. However, lest we become complacent, we must remember that in one way, climate change differs from any other subject of diplomatic negotiation: it is governed by a physical process. A process where the risk increases over time, and will continue to do so until we have entirely dealt with its cause. That is why one of us should be in any doubt that climate change poses a great risk. Indeed, it is leadership is so important – to forge ahead, to drive momentum and to show the way for others to follow. remarkable that even in the run-up to a general election, the leaders of the UK’s three largest N Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher showed just that kind of leadership in her early recognition political parties came together to say that “Climate change is one of the most serious threats of the nature and scale of the risks of climate change. In 1989, she told the UN General Assembly that rather facing the world today. It is not just a threat to the environment, but also to our national and than being the lords of all we survey, “we are the Lord’s creatures, the trustees of this planet, charged global security, to poverty eradication and economic prosperity.” today with preserving life itself – preserving life with all its mystery and all its wonder. May we all be equal to that task.” In assessing the risk of climate change, the immediate questions for any country anywhere in the world are: I am delighted that experts from the UK, US, China and India have worked together to produce this report, How serious is the threat? How urgent is it? How should we prioritise our response, when we have so many which makes those risks even clearer. As we consider its findings, let us remember those words from a other pressing, national objectives - from encouraging economic recovery to protecting our people around quarter-century ago. Let us determine to be both proportionate and effective in our response. Let us show the world? These are all important questions, and we can only truly answer them if we assess the risk in full. that we are, indeed, equal to the task before us. In the past, when assessing the risk of climate change, we have tended to take an approach that is, perhaps, too narrow - or incomplete. In public debate, we have sometimes treated it as an issue of prediction, as if it were a long-term weather forecast.