Dienstag, 26. Mai 2015

The feasibility of meeting the 2 C warming limit

We hope that the publication of both the english and the french version of our book in the run-up to the international Paris negotiations later this year might contribute to a better understanding of the complexity of climate change, but also to the feasibility of solving the problem. The 2 degree guard rail is a crucial point in this aspect. Predictably and mantra-like, voices appear ahead of climate negotiations which claim to get rid of this goal would be the best "solution", as it just happens presently again. If you are looking for arguments against this, here is a very helpful article by Jonathan Koomey (from May 16th, 2015), titled The feasbility of meeting the 2 C warming limit:

"Dave Roberts of Vox recently posted an article about the climate problem titled “The awful truth about climate change no one wants to admit”, the point of which he summarizes as “barring miracles, humanity is in for some awful shit.”  This conclusion is true even if we manage to keep warming to 2C or below, but even more true if we don’t.
In support of this point of view, Roberts cites analysis showing the increasing difficulty of meeting the 2 C warming limit with every year of delay.  This phenomenon is well known to people who understand the warming limit framing, but it can’t be repeated enough.  Delay makes solving the problem more costly and difficult, a fact that is summarized in the graph below. ..."
Source:  Robbie Andrew (via J. Koomey)

>  continue / go to full article: http://www.koomey.com/post/119106731153

PS:  There is another very interesting article by Joe Ross on "The Really Awful Truth About Climate Change" which we translated into German.