Improving Carbon Management to Mitigate Climate Change

Introduction: The Global Climate Change Situation

The aim of this green paper is to improve carbon management and help facilitate the transition towards a low-carbon economy in the UK. Although this green paper represents a tentative government report of a proposal without any commitment to action, it is the first step in changing the law to improve carbon management and mitigate climate change. The growing body of evidence concerning the reality of global climate change demands action today (Lindsay 2005; Lynas 2004). The implications of global climate change, even in the relative near-term, are profound. In this regard, Jenkins emphasizes that "many people are intensely interested in predicting the likely consequences of global climate change during the next 50 to 100 years. These consequences include many changes in natural environments, as well as potential effects on human health" (2004, 11).

Indeed, some scientists believe the world is a ticking time-bomb and that time is running out for the human race (Mank 2005; Hogue 2007). While other researchers caution that things are not as dire as alarmists might believe (Behreandt 2006; Michaels 2004), the fact remains that there is incontrovertible proof from around the globe that the earth has become warmer by about one-half a degree Fahrenheit over the past century or so (Schueneman 2009). For example, Jordan emphasizes that "the evidence is overwhelming that the Earth's surface is warmer today than it was a century ago. Research by thousands of scientists strongly suggests that the cause is the largely uncontrolled and still increasing release of anthropogenic (human-caused) greenhouse gases. Yet there remain a few scientists who oppose these conclusions" (2005, 24). In its most recent report on global climate change, the UK-based Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated: "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level" (quoted in Jones 2010, 2).

Although that may not sound like much, this slight increase in temperature — together with the continuing emission of greenhouse gases by humanity — may have set into motion a series of irreversible events that threatens the future of all humankind. For example, the polar ice caps are melting and the permafrost that covers much of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia is also melting. The former phenomenon is causing global ocean levels to rise, threatening coastal cities, while the latter may release an incalculable amount of additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, further accelerating the global warming process. Overall global temperatures have been on the increase for the past century and more, as recorded by the NASA meteorological station network.

Although both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres have experienced higher temperatures over the past century and a half, this increase in temperatures has been far more pronounced in the Northern Hemisphere, where the industrialized nations of the United States, China, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the European Union are located.

According to Phil Jones of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia (UEA), these temperature increases have set a number of records in recent years, including the following:

1. The period from 2001 to 2009 (0.43°C above the 1961–1990 mean) was 0.19°C warmer than the period from 1991 to 2000 (0.24°C above the 1961–1990 mean).
2. The warmest complete decade in the series was the 1990s.
3. With a temperature of 0.55°C above the 1961–1990 mean, 1998 was the warmest year of the entire series.
4. Fourteen of the past fifteen warmest years in the series occurred in the period 1995–2009.
5. The single year among the last 14 years not recorded among the 14 warmest was 1996, which was replaced in the series by 1990 (Jones 2010).

Although the earth has experienced cyclical climate changes throughout its multibillion-year history, a growing consensus of authorities agrees that the temperature increases experienced over the past century and a half have been caused by anthropogenic (i.e., manmade) activities that largely followed the introduction of the Industrial Revolution. In this regard, Jones emphasizes that "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations. Most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations" (2010, 3). These manmade changes to global temperature patterns have had broad-based implications. Jones further notes that "discernible human influences now extend to other aspects of climate, including ocean warming, continental-average temperatures, temperature extremes, and wind patterns" (2010, 2–3).

Besides the foregoing evidence, other changes in the physical environment also support the conclusion that the earth is becoming warmer. Jenkins notes that "the worldwide decline of amphibian populations that has been documented in the past 20 years is an early symptom of pervasive effects of global climate change on natural environments" (2004, 54). Taken together, it is reasonable to suggest that global climate change is a harsh reality that confronts all humankind, and the decisions made by policymakers today will have vitally important implications in the coming decades — particularly in countries such as the UK, where climate change has been especially pronounced.

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