Climate Change: from Evidence to Action
“How much more evidence do we need, before we take action on climate change, before we try and change the design of our communities, before we act in a more forthright and global manner?”
Professor Thomas Downing’s presentation homes in on the volume of compelling evidence that climate change is taking place and that the only credible explanation for these changes is output of greenhouse gasses from global industry. The sixth slide in the presentation shows climate modelling results from the IPCC. The blue band on the graphs demonstrates climate modelling without including the anthropogenic climate change, and it draws a clear conclusion. The main features of the global climate can be replicated up until circa 1950, but after that the only way to explain the changes is to bring in the human induced activities.
Following a series of unequivocal demonstrations of the reality of human induced climate change, Professor Downing asks the question: “What would be the cost of action?” The conclusion comes from a PriceWaterHouseCooper report that suggests the difference between acting to significantly reduce emissions by 2050 or not is 2% of GDP. In other words, it would mean delaying economic growth by just one year. Similar studies have drawn the same conclusion.
As a coda to the presentation, Professor Downing makes reference to Baird Group, which set a target of reducing emissions by 25%. The company achieved a 60% reduction by 2004, while maintaining significant profits. There are hundreds of companies achieving their targets much earlier than expected and continuing to maintain their profits.
Click on the link on the left of this page to view a copy of this presentation.
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