Limiting Global Warming To Well Below 2 C Energy System Modelling And Policy Development

This book presents the energy system roadmaps necessary to limit global temperature increase to below 2°C, in order to avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change. It provides a unique perspective on and critical understanding of the feasibility of a well-below-2°C world by exploring energy system pathways, technology innovations, behaviour change and the macro-economic impacts of achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century. The transformative changes in the energy transition are explored using energy systems models and scenario analyses that are applied to various cities, countries and at a global scale to offer scientific evidence to underpin complex policy decisions relating to climate change mitigation and interrelated issues like energy security and the energy–water nexus. It includes several chapters directly related to the Nationally Determined Contributions proposed in the context of the recent Paris Agreement on Climate Change. In summary, the book collates a range of concrete analyses at different scales from around the globe, revisiting the roles of countries, cities and local communities in pathways to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make a well-below-2°C world a reality. A valuable source of information for energy modellers in both the industry and public sectors, it provides a critical understanding of both the feasibility of roadmaps to achieve a well-below-2°C world, and the diversity and wide applications of energy systems models. Encompassing behaviour changes; technology innovations; macro-economic impacts; and other environmental challenges, such as water, it is also of interest to energy economists and engineers, as well as economic modellers working in the field of climate change mitigation.

The globe is warming and while no one knows quite what will happen as a result, it is clear that slowing the process is a necessary goal. Other studies have considered warming fates, this one brings sophisticated computer modelling to bear on ways of minimizing the risks. All the contributing gases are taken into account, and the authors demonstrate the global need to produce a budget for cumulative releases between now and the year 2100. They also demonstrate the need to return to a rate of fossil carbon storage equal to that of the mid-1980s. These budgets look at issues of international equity and the ways of moving to a binding agreement. The price of failure to control greenhouse gas emissions may be uncertain, but it will be more than anyone can afford. Political will lies at the root of successful climate stabilization and major transfers to Third World countries will be needed if there is to be any chance of success. This book provides an agenda for advance.

The IEA held a series of three seminars between May 1996 and October 1997 on the insights from modelling relevant to energy and climate change. The seminars brought together key analysts, government and business experts, and policy makers from IEA member countries directly involved with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The participants' contributions and insights deserve strong acknowledgement. Modelling offers an indispensable analytical tool to evaluate how energy systems could best respond to restrictions on carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions, and to identify the most cost-effective and resilient policy instruments to reach these goals. It can provide key perceptions for analysis of comprehensive packages of economic and non-economic policy instruments within a consistent framework. This book maps the main approaches of energy modelling, their assumptions and their logic, to help policy makers and non-modellers understand and use its contributions. The text draws on papers prepared for the seminars by the IEA Secretariat, presentations given by participants and some general insights which emerged on economic modelling of climate change. In line with the main objective of the seminars, it avoids 'peer review' of different climate change models or specific policy suggestions, attempting instead to bridge the gap between modelling and policy making.

The New York Times-bestselling "skeptical environmentalist" argues that panic over climate change is causing more harm than good Hurricanes batter our coasts. Wildfires rage across the American West. Glaciers collapse in the Artic. Politicians, activists, and the media espouse a common message: climate change is destroying the planet, and we must take drastic action immediately to stop it. Children panic about their future, and adults wonder if it is even ethical to bring new life into the world. Enough, argues bestselling author Bjorn Lomborg. Climate change is real, but it's not the apocalyptic threat that we've been told it is. Projections of Earth's imminent demise are based on bad science and even worse economics. In panic, world leaders have committed to wildly expensive but largely ineffective policies that hamper growth and crowd out more pressing investments in human capital, from immunization to education. False Alarm will convince you that everything you think about climate change is wrong -- and points the way toward making the world a vastly better, if slightly warmer, place for us all.

Too often amongst policy makers and thought leaders an assumption is made that we must make a choice between tackling climate change and having a strong economy; tackling climate change and allowing poorer nations to develop; tackling climate change and having a secure energy system. However, a decade of advanced modelling tested against historical data has provided wide evidence that well-chosen policies can be implemented that avoid these apparent either/or choices. This highly interdisciplinary book provides an overview of potential pathways for the decarbonisation of the global economy. By examining the entire global economy, we show policy-makers and thought-leaders that greatly reducing the risks of climate change can be consistent with energy security, economic development in poor nations, and vibrant economies in already developed nations. Advanced models of the relationships between the economy, energy and climate change pioneered at the Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research (4CMR) over the past decade provides a sound evidence base for decisions. This book examines not only the impacts of policies, but also the feasibility of bringing them forward and the ways in which energy, climate and economic policies can and must be joined up if climate, energy and economic goals are to be met globally. Economists, physicists, engineers, policy analysts, environmental scientists, climate scientists, political analysts, lawyers and computational scientists are brought together for the first time to produce analyses that make up a unique approach to a global problem that must be addressed sooner rather than later. Contents:Introduction (Terry Barker)The Case for Decarbonisation (Douglas Crawford-Brown and Martin Sewell)Policies and Measures for Mitigating Climate Change (Paul Haynes and Yongfu Huang)Scenario Design for a Global Low-carbon Economy (Jun Li and Aleix Altimiras-Martin)Modelling Decarbonisation Scenarios (Annela Anger, Terry Barker and Mark Syddall)The Economic Feasibility of Policies for Decarbonisation (Terry Barker, Annela Anger and Hector Pollitt)Feasibility of Decarbonisation from a Technology Perspective (J-F Mercure and Pablo Salas)Feasibility of Reducing Emissions by End-use Sector (Scott Kelly, Andrew Skelton and Aleix Altimiras-Martin)From Theory to Practice: Climate Policy and Political Feasibility (Sonja Klinsky and Michael Grubb)Co-impacts of a Decarbonised Economy (Douglas Crawford-Brown and Ann Thompson)Conclusions (Terry Barker) Readership: Academics and policy makers interested in forming policies that target energy, climate and economic issues. Key Features:Conclusions are based on a decade of developing some of the most advanced models of links between energy, economic and environmental issuesExamines the entire global economy, showing how policies and actions in any one nation influence behaviours in other nationsHighly interdisciplinary content, with analyses produced by economists, physicists, engineers, policy analysts, environmental scientists, climate scientists, political analysts, lawyers and computational scientistsKeywords:Climate Change;Climate Policy;Economic Development;Environment;Energy Policy;Low Carbon Technology

This book gathers an in-depth collection of 45 selected papers presented at the Global Conference on Global Warming 2014 in Beijing, China, covering a broad variety of topics from the main principles of thermodynamics and their role in design, analysis, and the improvements in performance of energy systems to the potential impact of global warming on human health and wellbeing. Given energy production’s role in contributing to global warming and climate change, this work provides solutions to global warming from the point of view of energy. Incorporating multi-disciplinary expertise and approaches, it provides a platform for the analysis of new developments in the area of global warming and climate change, as well as potential energy solutions including renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, hydrogen production, CO2 capture and environmental impact assessment. The research and analysis presented herein will benefit international scientists, researchers, engineers, policymakers and all others with an interest in global warming and its potential solutions.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report is a comprehensive assessment of our understanding of global warming of 1.5°C, future climate change, potential impacts and associated risks, emission pathways, and system transitions consistent with 1.5°C global warming, and strengthening the global response to climate change in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.