Two papers published in a recent issue of Nautre tell us how much CO2 we can afford to pump into the atmosphere to make it likely for us to stay within 2C average global warming. The findings have dramatic implications for national and international climate policy. We speak to one of the paperâs lead authors, Myles Allen of the Climate Dynamics team, University of Oxford.
References for this programme:
Press release for the Malte Meinshausen paper www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/on-the-way-to-phasing-out-emissions-more-than-50-reductions-needed-by-2050-to-respect-2b0c-climate-target Q&A relating to the Meinshausen paper www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/files/qanda_meinshausen_etal_2009_ghgtargets-2c_pik-press.pdf A Burden Beyond Bearing (overview of targets, Nature, 30 April 2009) www.nature.com/news/2009/090429/pdf/4581091a.pdf Contents for Nature, 30 April 2009 with links to the papers www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7242/ World will not meet 2C warming target, climate change experts agree (The Guardian) www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/14/global-warming-target-2c A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (George Monbiot) www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/03/17/a-self-fulfilling-prophecy UK government targets âtoo weakâ to prevent dangerous climate change (Tyndall Centre) www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/17/uk-climate-budget-advice-weak The Exit Strategy: Emissions targets must be placed in the context of a cumulative carbon budget if we are to avoid dangerous climate change (Myles Allen et al, commentary in Nature Reports Climate Change) www.nature.com/climate/2009/0905/pdf/climate.2009.38.pdf Reframing the climate change challenge in light of post-2000 emissions trends (Anderson & Bows, PTRS, 2008) www.tyndall.ac.uk/publications/journal_papers/fulltext.pdf
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