January 14, 2013

assessing the effects of policy on the impacts of climate change

If there is ever to be an agreement on CO2 emissions, we need to know which impacts of climate change might be averted by emission reduction.

A new paper published in Nature Climate Change evaluates the regional and global impacts avoided by a set of climate mitigation policies.  The study examines the how the size and speed of emission reduction would affect a number of key climate threats including water availability, coastal flood risk, crop suitability and rising energy demand for cooling.

This research is part of the AVOID research programme funded by DECC/Defra and led by the Met Office in a consortium with the Walker Institute, Tyndall Centre and Grantham Institute: www.avoid.uk.net

Speakers: 

Prof Nigel Arnell, Director of the Walker Institute, University of Reading