emissions in 2030 from current pledges under the Paris Agreement (known as
nationally determined contributions, or NDC). Limiting warming to 1.5°C requires
lowering GHG emissions in 2030 down to net zero CO 2 emissions globally around
2050, as well as deep reductions in emissions of non-CO 2 forcers, particularly
methane. How to transform the global economy towards this goal is the upmost
important question of our time life.
3 Tackling Climate Change: From Science to Political
Decisions
Climate change is a global problem with causes from all economic sectors in all
countries, and therefore, it should be tackled at a global level as well. The formal
process at the United Nations level started at the end of the eighties of last century,
when IPCC was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The goal of
the IPCC was to provide up-to-date periodic assessments in the form of reports on
the science, the emissions, and the current and future impacts for different mitigation scenarios that could be implemented, and the corresponding adaptation
measures required. In 1992, climate change was tackled through a multilateral
framework, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), which entered into force in 1994 being currently with 197 Parties (i.e.
nations). The Convention sets a lofty but specific goal: to stabilize greenhouse gas
concentrations “at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human
induced) interference with the climate system”, stating that “such a level should be
achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to
climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable
economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner”.
During the last 25 years, the UNFCCC [19] has becoming the arena welcoming
the highest environmental diplomacy ever take. Specific regulatory instruments
have been adopted, like the Kyoto Protocol (in force from 2005 to 2012) that
launched the roots for new worldwide harmonized processes, like the national
greenhouse gas national inventories based on common methodologies, the so-called
carbon economy supported in market mechanisms, and the setting of climate funds
to support climate adaptation in developing countries, to refer only three examples.
Figure 4 presents the relationships between the science supporting information
from the IPCC and the political decisions taken on the basis of the different
assessment reports. The first report triggered the creation of the UNFCCC in Rio de
Janeiro during ECO/92. The major Protocol of the Convention was signed two
years after the second report. Unfortunately, in 2009, a global agreement with
higher mitigation targets for the developed countries, with the inclusion of nations
that did not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, such as the USA, was unsuccessful. Two
years after the launch of the fifth assessment report, where the evidences on
12
J. Seixas and F. Ferreira
nationally determined contributions, or NDC). Limiting warming to 1.5°C requires
lowering GHG emissions in 2030 down to net zero CO 2 emissions globally around
2050, as well as deep reductions in emissions of non-CO 2 forcers, particularly
methane. How to transform the global economy towards this goal is the upmost
important question of our time life.
3 Tackling Climate Change: From Science to Political
Decisions
Climate change is a global problem with causes from all economic sectors in all
countries, and therefore, it should be tackled at a global level as well. The formal
process at the United Nations level started at the end of the eighties of last century,
when IPCC was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The goal of
the IPCC was to provide up-to-date periodic assessments in the form of reports on
the science, the emissions, and the current and future impacts for different mitigation scenarios that could be implemented, and the corresponding adaptation
measures required. In 1992, climate change was tackled through a multilateral
framework, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), which entered into force in 1994 being currently with 197 Parties (i.e.
nations). The Convention sets a lofty but specific goal: to stabilize greenhouse gas
concentrations “at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human
induced) interference with the climate system”, stating that “such a level should be
achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to
climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable
economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner”.
During the last 25 years, the UNFCCC [19] has becoming the arena welcoming
the highest environmental diplomacy ever take. Specific regulatory instruments
have been adopted, like the Kyoto Protocol (in force from 2005 to 2012) that
launched the roots for new worldwide harmonized processes, like the national
greenhouse gas national inventories based on common methodologies, the so-called
carbon economy supported in market mechanisms, and the setting of climate funds
to support climate adaptation in developing countries, to refer only three examples.
Figure 4 presents the relationships between the science supporting information
from the IPCC and the political decisions taken on the basis of the different
assessment reports. The first report triggered the creation of the UNFCCC in Rio de
Janeiro during ECO/92. The major Protocol of the Convention was signed two
years after the second report. Unfortunately, in 2009, a global agreement with
higher mitigation targets for the developed countries, with the inclusion of nations
that did not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, such as the USA, was unsuccessful. Two
years after the launch of the fifth assessment report, where the evidences on
12
J. Seixas and F. Ferreira