Status of Climate Change 2013 CaTee Conference San Antonio 2013.

Status of Climate Change 2013

CaTee ConferenceSan 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

About 0.8o C pe

r century

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.