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Climate change mitigation

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The mitigation of global warming covers all actions aimed at reducing the extent or likelihood of global warming, as well as actions aimed at reducing the effects of global warming. The world's primary international agreement on combating climate change is the Kyoto Protocol, which came into force on 16 February 2005.

In addition to government action and the personal choices individuals can make, the threat posed by global warming provides business opportunities to be exploited and risks to be mitigated. An industry very directly affected by the risks is the insurance industry. For example, a June 2004 report by the Association of British Insurers said that weather risks for households and property were already increasing by 2-4 % per year due to changing weather, and that claims for storm and flood damages in the UK had doubled to over £6 billion over the period 1998 - 2003, compared to the previous five years.

Mitigating global warming

See also: Kyoto Protocol

Renewable energy

Wind often flows briskly and smoothly over water since there are no obstructions. The large and slow turning turbines of this offshore wind farm near Copenhagen take advantage of the moderate yet constant breezes at this location.

Main articles: Renewable energy and Renewable energy development

One means of reducing carbon emissions is the development of new technologies, such as renewable energy, electric cars (and hybrids), and fuel cells. Currently governments subsidise fossil fuels by an estimated $235bn a year. However, in some countries, government action has boosted the development of renewable energy technologies - for example, a programme to put solar panels on the roofs of a million homes has made Japan a world leader in that technology, and Denmark's support for wind power has ensured its leadership of that sector. Although commercial wind power was born in California in the 1980s, in 2004 nine of the ten leading wind turbine manufacturers were based in Denmark, Germany and Spain. In 2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger promised an initiative to install a million solar roofs in California.

In June 2005, the chief executive of BT became the first head of a British company to admit that climate change was already taking place, and affecting its business, and announced plans to source much of its substantial energy use from renewable sources. He noted that, "Since the beginning of the year, the media has been showing us images of Greenland glaciers crashing into the sea, Mount Kilimanjaro devoid of its ice cap and Scotland reeling from floods and gales. All down to natural weather cycles? I think not".

Carbon emissions trading

Main article: Carbon emissions trading

With the creation of a market for trading carbon dioxide emissions within the Kyoto Protocol, it is likely that London financial markets will be the centre for this potentially highly lucrative business; the New York and Chicago stock markets would like a share (which is unlikely as long as the US rejects Kyoto). The European Union's European Union Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) began operations on 1 January 2005.

23 multinational corporations have come together in the G8 Climate Change Roundtable, a business group formed at the January 2005 World Economic Forum. The group includes Ford, Toyota, British Airways and BP. On 9 June 2005 the Group published a statement stating that there was a need to act on climate change and stressing the importance of market-based solutions. It called on governments to establish "clear, transparent, and consistent price signals" through "creation of a long-term policy framework" that would include all major producers of greenhouse gases.

Energy efficiency

See also: energy conservation

Developing countries use their energy less efficiently than developed countries, getting less GDP for the same amount of energy. One important cause is old technology. Notable is the very low energy efficiency in the former communist states. Source: EIA.

On 9 May 2005 Jeff Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric (GE), announced plans to reduce GE's own emissions tied to global warming by one percent by 2012. GE said that given its projected growth, those emissions would have risen by 40 percent without such action.

On 21 June 2005 a group of leading airlines, airports and aerospace manufacturers pledged to work together to reduce the negative environmental impact of the aviation industry, including limiting the impact of air travel on climate change by improving fuel efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide emissions of new aircraft by fifty percent per seat kilometre by 2020 from 2000 levels. The group aims to develop a common reporting system for carbon dioxide emissions per aircraft by the end of 2005, and pressed for the early inclusion of aviation in the European Union's carbon emission trading scheme.

Personal Choices

Individual actions can include

  • avoiding airplane flights (aircraft contribute 3.5% of the world's greenhouse gases)
  • choosing a more fuel-efficient car, and using alternatives as often as possible
  • switching off appliances instead of leaving them on stand by
  • buying electricity generated from renewable sources
  • buying offset carbon credits, which are used to plant forests or support energy efficiency measures etc

Other

See also: Carbon tax, Carbon sequestration

In 2005, New Zealand became the first nation to introduce a carbon tax, setting an emissions price of NZ$15 per tonne of CO-equivalent. The tax applies across most economic sectors but allows a standing exemption for methane emissions from farming and provisions for special exemptions from carbon intensive businesses if they agree to adopt world's-best-practice standards of emissions.

As of April 2005, BP is considering a trial of large-scale sequestration of carbon dioxide stripped from power plant emissions in the Miller North Sea oilfield as its reserves are depleted.

In some countries (such as the UK) there are also discussions about the future role of nuclear energy. Although not necessarily "zero emission" (uranium mining is quite energy-intensive), carbon dioxide emissions are relatively low.

Mitigating the effects of global warming

Mitigation of the effects of global warming focusses on defending against rising sea levels through better flood defences and by changing patterns of land use (avoiding more vulnerable areas for housing).

Increased use of air conditioning will develop as hot summers - like the 2003 heatwave which killed 20,000 people in Europe - become more common.

There are also a variety of measures that can be taken to ensure food security in the face of less reliable agricultural yields, particularly in the tropics, where drought is expected to become more common.

Resistance to action

US government

Federal

The United States, although a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, has neither ratified nor withdrawn from the protocol. The protocol is non-binding over the United States unless ratified. The current President, George W. Bush, has indicated that he does not intend to submit the treaty for ratification, not because he does not support the general idea, but because of the strain he believes the treaty would put on the economy; he emphasises the uncertainties he asserts are present in the climate change issue . The US government continues to stress the alleged uncertainty of global warming, despite the increasing scientific consensus, and maintains the need for further research before any action is justified.

In June 2005, US State Department papers showed the administration thanking Exxon executives for the company's "active involvement" in helping to determine climate change policy, including the US stance on Kyoto. Input from the business lobby group Global Climate Coalition was also a factor.

State/local

However, 150 local governments in the US - covering 50m people - have committed to reducing carbon emissions to 7% below 1990 levels.

As of November 15, 2004, nine Northeastern US states are involved in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which is a state level emissions capping and trading program. It is believed that the state-level program will apply pressure on the federal government to support Kyoto Protocol.

Other governments

  • Australia's current position is that it will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, in particular because of concerns over a loss of competitiveness with the US, which rejects the treaty.
  • Russia signed the Kyoto Protocol in November 2004, after a deal with the European Union over WTO membership.

Business

One of the biggest opponents of action on global warming has been the energy industry, and particularly the oil industry, such as ExxonMobil, which regularly publishes papers mitigating the threat of gobal warming. In 2005, it opposed a shareholders' resolution to explain the science behind its denial of global warming. In recent years, other companies have increasingly come to accept the existence and consequences of global warmin; for example, the Chairman of BP, John Browne, declared a need for action in 2002. Lord Oxburgh, non-executive chairman of Shell, said in a speech at the 2005 Hay-on-Wye Festival: "We have 45 years, and if we start now, not in 10 or 15 years' time, we have a chance of hitting those targets. But we've got to start now. We have no time to lose."

See also

Mitigating temperature rise

Mitigating the effects of global warming

External links

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