IPCC, 2014

These are published materials composed of the full scientific and technical assessment of climate change, one for each of the Working Groups of the IPCC, plus a Synthesis Report. Each of the Working Group volumes is composed of individual chapters, an optional Technical Summary and a Summary for Policymakers. The Synthesis Report synthesizes and integrates materials contained within the Assessment Reports and Special Reports and is written in a non-technical style suitable for policymakers and address a broad-range of policy-relevant but policy-neutral questions. It is composed of a longer report and a Summary for Policymakers

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By Frank Biermann, 2012.

Numerous science assessments indicate that the environmental crisis has reached a new stage, progressing from local ecological degradation to Earth system transformation. The four global change research programs warned in 2001 that the entire Earth system "has moved well outside the range of the natural variability exhibited over the last half million years at least. The nature of changes now occurring simultaneously in the Earth System, their magnitudes and rates of change are unprecedented."

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Anil Markandya, Mikel González-Eguino, Patrick Criqui , Silvana Mima, 2011.

In the last decade, a few papers have analysed the consequences of achieving the greenhouse gas concentration levels necessary to maintain global temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Most models and scenarios assume that future trends in global GDP will be similar to the growth experienced in the past century, which would imply multiplying current output nineteen-fold in this century. However, natural resource and environmental constraints suggest that future global economic growth may not be so high. Furthermore, the environmental implications of such growth depend on how it is distributed across countries. This paper studies the implications on GHG abatement policies of different assumptions on global GDP growth and convergence levels. A partial equilibrium model (POLES) of the world´s energy system is used to provide detailed projections up to 2050 for the different regions of the world. The results suggest that while low stabilisation is technically feasible and economically viable for the world in all the scenarios considered, it is more likely to occur with more modest global growth. Convergence in living standards on the other hand places greater pressures in terms of the required reduction in emissions. In general we find that there are major differences between regions in terms of the size and the timing of abatement costs and economic impact.

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By Nordical Council, 2011.

The current pace of global change has already had a decisive impact on the Arctic. To understand the current and likely future situation in the Arctic it is important to acknowledge the pre-conditions, challenges and tendencies at work here.

Some of these developments should be characterised as megatrends because they overarch and impact on everything else. They are trends deemed so powerful that they have the potential to transform society across social categories and at all levels, from individuals and local-level players to global structures, and eventually to change our ways of living and thinking.

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Jeroen Aerts, 2009.

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of flooding in the Netherlands. The question is whether the Netherlands can adapt to increasing flood risk and whether the adaptation cost are acceptable. The Netherlands is a densely populated country with approximately 16.5 million inhabitants. Approximately 9 million inhabitants live below sea level. This paper provides estimates of the adaptation cost of flood protection under various climate change scenario’s.

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OECD, 2012

The OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050 asks “What will the next four decades bring?” Based on joint modelling by the OECD and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), it looks forward to the year 2050 to find out what demographic and economic trends might mean for the environment if the world does not adopt more ambitious green policies. It also looks at what policies could change that picture for the better.

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European Environment Agency, 2009

The EC GHG inventory comprises the direct sum of the national inventories compiled by the EC Member States making up the EU-15 and the EU-27. Energy data from Eurostat are used for the reference approach for CO2 emissions from fossil fuels developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The main institutions involved in the compilation of the EC GHG inventory are the Member States, the European Commission Directorate-General for the Environment (DG ENV), the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change (ETC/ACC), Eurostat, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC).

Attachments:

Annual European Community greenhouse gas inventory 1990–2007

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Directorate-General for Research
European Commissiion
A socio-economic perspective from the conference
Sustainable development: A challenge for European research
Brussels, 26-28 May 2009.

This publication draws upon presentations and discussion from the conference on ‘Sustainable development: A challenge for European research’ that was held in Brussels in May 2009. This paper focuses on the role of socio-economic sciences and humanities within the European research effort directed at sustainable development. It follows and takes stock of recent reflections in this field like the European Commission Conference ‘Towards a post-carbon society’ of 2007 and the EU French Presidency Conference on ‘Humanity and society faced with Climate Change: an agenda for Europe’ of 2008.

Attachments:

People_economy_planet.pdf

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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up jointly by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme to provide an authoritative international statement of scientific understanding of climate change. The IPCC’s periodic assessments of the causes, impacts and possible response strategies to climate change are the most comprehensive and up-to-date reports available on the subject, and form the standard reference for all concerned with climate change in academia, government and industry worldwide. Through three working groups, many hundreds of international experts assess climate change in this Fourth Assessment Report.

Climate Change 2007 – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date scientific assessment of the impacts of climate change, the vulnerability of natural and human environments, and the potential for response through adaptation. The report evaluates evidence that recent observed changes in climate have already affected a variety of physical and biological systems and concludes that these effects can be attributed to global warming; makes a detailed assessment of the impacts of future climate change and sea-level rise on ecosystems, water resources, agriculture and food security, human health, coastal and low-lying regions and industry and settlements; provides a complete new assessment of the impacts of climate change on major regions of the world (Africa,Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Europe, Latin America, North America, polar regions and small islands); considers responses through adaptation; explores the synergies and trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation; evaluates the key vulnerabilities to climate change, and assesses aggregate damage levels and the role of multiple stresses.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Attachments:

Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability

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WWF International, 2008.

The Living Planet Report 2008 tells us that we are consuming the resources that underpin those services much too fast – faster than they can be replenished. Just as reckless spending is causing recession, so reckless consumption is depleting the world’s natural capital to a point where we are endangering our future prosperity. The Living Planet Index shows that over the past 35 years alone the Earth’s wildlife populations have declined by a third.

Attachments:

Living Planet Report 2008

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Global Footprint Network, 2009.

The Atlas presents Ecological Footprint and biocapacity results for more than 100 nations. It also explains the purpose behind Ecological Footprint Analysis, the research question it addresses, basic concepts and science underlying the Accounts, and the method used for calculating the results. It also describes ways Ecological Footprint Analysis is currently being applied in a variety of domains. For the technical reader, the Atlas includes more detailed notes about calculation of the results, explains recent advances to enhance the consistency, reliability and resolution of the National Footprint Accounts, and reviews the evolution of the National Footprint Accounts methodology.

Veolia Environmental Services, 2006.

This brief overview clearly highlights the complexity of the world of waste at internationa level. It is no coincidence that there is no reliable and coherent analysis of the planet. This study is the first of its kind on the subject.

Attachments:

From Waste to Resource. An abstract of "2006 World Waste Survey"

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United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
International Environmental Technology Centre
Presentation for the International Consultative Meeting on Expanding Waste
Management Services in Developing Countries,Tokyo, Japan, March 2010.

This presentation describes three key issues about the trends in solid waste management: the trends in waste volume, the trends in waste recycling and the trends in waste disposal.

Attachments:

Trends in Solid Waste Management: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities

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Spanish Observatory for Sustainability (OSE), 2009.

This document describes the trends in land use in the Protected Natural Areas of Spain. The applied indicator shows the habitat dynamics through linear simulation  models.

Attachments:

Sustainability Report for Spain 2009

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European Climate Foundation, 2008

The European Climate Foundation (ECF), Europe’s leading philanthropic organisation focused on climate, commends the Commission on its draft “EU 2020” strategy consultation and welcomes the opportunity to contribute. By the ECF, a fully decarbonised power sector is necessary to reach the EU’s 80‐95% GHG emissions reduction targets for 2050; this requires a 40% decarbonised power sector by 2020.

Attachments:

Opportunities for European low-carbon growth

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HM Treasury, 2006

The scientific evidence is now averwhelming: climate change is a serious global threat, and it demands an urgent response.

This Review has assessed a wide range of evidence on the impacts of climate change and on the economic costs, and has used a number of different techniques to assess costs and risks. From all of these perspectives the evidence gathered by the Review leads to a simple conclusion: the benefits of strong and early action far outweigh the economic costs of not acting.

Climate change will affect the basic elements of life for people around the world - access to water, food production, health, and the environment. Hundreds of millions of people could suffer hunger, water shortages and coastal flooding as the world warms.

Using the results from formal economic models, the Review estimates that if we don't act, the overall costs and risks of climate change will be equivalent to losing at least 5% of global GDP each year, now and forever. If a wider range of risks and impacts is taken into account, the estimates of damage could rise to 20% of GDP or more.

In contrast, the cost of action - reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change - can be limited to around 1% of global GDP each year.

Stern-Review

World Business Councilor Sustainable Development (WBCSD), 2004.

This publication provides an overview of key facts and societal challenges related to economic development, future energy demand and the impact that demand could have on the climate system. It forms part of the work program of the WBCSD’s Energy and Climate Council Project and provides a platform for future discussion. This will help further elaborate a business response to the challenges identified in this paper, which will require additional research and consultation.

Attachments:

Basic-Facts-Trends-2050.pdf

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World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). July  2004

Mobility 2030 sets out a vision of sustainable mobility and ways to achieve it. The report has developed a framework to connect a diverse set of economic, social and environmental strands; and in identifying the key issues and choices we face it has developed a set of goals to provide focus for future action, and charted a number of pathways as a basis for this.

Attachments:

Mobility 2030.pdf

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