The Politics of Global Warming

The Politics of Global Warming „Think Globally, Act Locally‟ Recap of last lesson      What is Global Warming? What gases are responsible? * co2, Methane, CFCs, Nitrous oxide 2 pieces of evidence that it is occurring * Temperature increase * Carbon in the atmosphere Impacts of Global Warming – 6 pics Case Study- impacts of GW in the UK The Politics  Responsibility for global warming is not equally shared around the world The major contributors are (in order of amount of carbon emissions) – * USA * EU * China * Russia * Japan * India To what degree are they responsible? USA •Total CO2 emissions: metric tons per year) •Emissions per capita: 5,410 (million 20.1 36% 4.6% •Percentage of CO2 emissions: •Percentage of world population: China •Total CO2 emissions: metric tons per year) 2,893 (million •Percentage of world economy: EU 30% •Emissions per capita: 2.3 13% •Percentage of CO2 emissions: •Total CO2 emissions: metric tons per year) • Emissions per capita: 3,171 (million 8.5 14% 6.3% •Percentage of world population: 21% •Percentage of world economy: 3.2% •Percentage of CO2 emissions: •Percentage of world population: •Percentage of world economy: 23% To what degree are they responsible? Russia •Total CO2 emissions: metric tons per year) •Emissions per capita: 1,416 (million 9.6 •Percentage of CO2 emissions: •Percentage of world population: 2.5% •Percentage of world economy: Japan 6.2% India •Total CO2 emissions: metric tons per year) 908 (million 1.3% •Emissions per capita: 0.99 4% •Percentage of CO2 emissions: •Total CO2 emissions: metric tons per year) •Emissions per capita: 1,128 (million 8.9 •Percentage of world population: 17% •Percentage of world economy: 1.4% 5% 2% 14% •Percentage of CO2 emissions: •Percentage of world population: •Percentage of world economy: The solution to the pollutionThe Kyoto Protocol     The Kyoto Protocol came into force on 16 February 2005 It is an international and legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, to limit the impact of climate change The Kyoto Protocol is a major international effort to limit climate change by setting targets for nations to cut their emissions It has now come into force and its emission reduction commitments are international law Political Problems        Getting the Protocol agreed and into law has been a complicated and lengthy process The US pollutes more, absolutely and per head, than any other country Its greenhouse emissions have risen by more than 11% since 1990: its Kyoto commitment was to reduce them by 6%. It is the only country to have signed the protocol and then to have repudiated it. President Bush said in March 2001 the US would not ratify Kyoto, because he thought it could damage the US economy After a delay of two years, Russia finally ratified the treaty on 18 November, 2004 Once Russia had ratified, the 90 day countdown to Kyoto coming into force began, and this is how we get the 16 February start date The EU wants a rigorous application of Kyoto So what does Kyoto mean?      Kyoto could only start if the countries involved were responsible for 55% of all global emissions The countries involved will all have individual targets Britain will reduce emissions by 12.5% Some nations will be allowed to increase emissions Russia is „letting‟ some of its allowance out to developing nations The gases that the Protocol aims to reduce include: •carbon dioxide, which is produced by fossil fuel power stations •methane - produced by landfill sites, cattle rearing and rice growing •nitrous oxide - from car fumes, fuel burning and also a naturally occurring microbial action in soil •hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, which were both used to replace ozone eating CFCs, but still contribute to global warming •and sulphur hexafluoride which is mainly used in insulating material for high-voltage equipment like circuit breakers at utilities 3 Tasks    Read Pages 88 & 89 Answer Question 1 Explain this statement- „Think Globally, Act Locally‟ End of Topic      No more than 25 minutes to answer Q4 Peer Marking- swap your paper with someone else to mark Feedback Review other possible questions Review unit Homework Answer the essay (taken from 2004 paper)- “Identify and explain the atmospheric processes responsible for the formation of tropical revolving storms”