Policy options for stabilizing global climate

Abstract

The structure of this paper is designed to answer the following questions in turn: What is the greenhouse effect What evidence i there that the greenhouse effect is increasing How will the Earth's climate respond to changes in greenhouse gas concentrations What activities are responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions How might emissions and climate change in the future What technologies are available for limiting greenhouse gas emissions And what domestic and international policy options, if implemented, would help to stabilize global climate This chapter provides a general introduction to the climate change issue and reviews selected previous studies. Chapter II discusses the greenhouse gases, their sources and sinks, chemical properties, current atmospheric concentrations and distributions, and related uncertainties. Chapter III relates the greenhouse gases to the process of climatic change. Once this link is made, Chapter IV examines those human activities that affect trace-gas emissions and ultimately influence climate change. Chapter V discusses the scenarios developed for this report to assist us in thinking about possible future emissions and climate change. Chapter VI then presents sensitivity analyses of the modeling results. Chapter VII gives a detailed description of existing and emerging technologies that should be considered in the formationmore » of a comprehensive strategy for mitigating global warming. Chapter VIII outlines domestic policy options, and the concluding chapter (Chapter IX) discusses international mechanisms for responding to climate change.« less

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