How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster PDF

Author: Bill Gates

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0385546149

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Combating Climate Change

Combating Climate Change PDF

Author: Lisa Svensson

Publisher: Center for Transatlantic Relations Sais

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"An increasing sense of urgency has pushed climate change to the top of the international agenda. This volume presents an overview of the principal mechanisms to combat climate change, and highlights the need for a broad approach to creating an international policy framework. Furthermore, it outlines current action in Europe and the U.S. and discusses and lessons to be learned from the experience of the European Union in order to advance a transatlantic consensus on climate change. Finally, it offers a roadmap for a post-2012 framework when the Kyoto Protocol expires." "This volume is based on discussions and recommendations from a symposium of climate change experts, business leaders, and government officials at a November 2007 "California-European Dialogue on Climate Change" held in Santa Barbara, California. The report is a practical tool for public understanding of the ongoing debate about climate change."--BOOK JACKET.

SDG13 - Climate Action

SDG13 - Climate Action PDF

Author: Federica Doni

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing

Published: 2020-04-28

Total Pages: 93

ISBN-13: 1787569179

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

SDG13 - Climate Action: Combatting Climate Change and its Impacts will consider empirical and science-based analysis to explore a wide range of practical implementation tools and mechanisms, enabling conditions, and monitoring and reporting tools, to demonstrate the potential innovation in implementing SDG13.

Combating Climate Change with Section 115 of the Clean Air Act

Combating Climate Change with Section 115 of the Clean Air Act PDF

Author: Michael Burger

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2020-10-30

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 178643461X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Editor Michael Burger brings together a comprehensive assessment of how one statutory provision – Section 115 of the Clean Air Act, “International Air Pollution” – provides the executive branch of the U.S. government with the authority, procedures, and mechanisms to work with the states and private sector to take national climate action.

Climate Intervention

Climate Intervention PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2015-06-17

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 0309305322

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The signals are everywhere that our planet is experiencing significant climate change. It is clear that we need to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from our atmosphere if we want to avoid greatly increased risk of damage from climate change. Aggressively pursuing a program of emissions abatement or mitigation will show results over a timescale of many decades. How do we actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make a bigger difference more quickly? As one of a two-book report, this volume of Climate Intervention discusses CDR, the carbon dioxide removal of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere and sequestration of it in perpetuity. Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration introduces possible CDR approaches and then discusses them in depth. Land management practices, such as low-till agriculture, reforestation and afforestation, ocean iron fertilization, and land-and-ocean-based accelerated weathering, could amplify the rates of processes that are already occurring as part of the natural carbon cycle. Other CDR approaches, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration, direct air capture and sequestration, and traditional carbon capture and sequestration, seek to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and dispose of it by pumping it underground at high pressure. This book looks at the pros and cons of these options and estimates possible rates of removal and total amounts that might be removed via these methods. With whatever portfolio of technologies the transition is achieved, eliminating the carbon dioxide emissions from the global energy and transportation systems will pose an enormous technical, economic, and social challenge that will likely take decades of concerted effort to achieve. Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration will help to better understand the potential cost and performance of CDR strategies to inform debate and decision making as we work to stabilize and reduce atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide.

Combating Climate Change

Combating Climate Change PDF

Author: Manjit S. Kang

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2013-03-26

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 1466566701

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The effects of climate change can already be felt around the world, and they will likely impact all facets of human civilization—from health, livelihood security, agricultural production, and shelter to international trade. Since anthropogenic factors are mainly to blame for the current trends in global warming, human intervention will be necessary to mitigate it. With 17 authoritative chapters, Combating Climate Change: An Agricultural Perspective outlines a framework for preparing agriculture for climate change, presenting the causes and consequences of climate change and possible remediation measures. With contributions from internationally recognized scientists, the chapters cover global food security, adaptation of agriculture to fulfill its greenhouse gas emissions mitigation potential, economic aspects of climate change, the soil organic carbon pool, the need for agroecological intelligence, and the development of nutrient-use-efficient crops. The text also addresses genetic mitigation of climate change effects through the development of climate-resilient crops and the use of genetic and genomic resources to develop highly productive crop cultivars, as well as the conservation of native agroecosystems. Expert contributors discuss the impacts of climate change on plant pathogens and plant disease as well as on insects and crop losses. They address abiotic stress resistance, conservation tillage as a mitigation strategy, and more. The final chapter demonstrates the practical use of the WorldClim and DIVA software for modeling current and future climates, using Timor Leste and India as examples. Covering a broad range of issues related to climate change and agriculture, this book brings together ideas for environmentally friendly technologies and opportunities to further increase and stabilize global agricultural productivity and ensure food security in face of mounting climate challenge.

One Planet Is Enough

One Planet Is Enough PDF

Author: Rune Westergård

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-07-06

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 3319609130

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The present book offers a compelling sketch of how technological advances have shaped humankind’s evolution and how they can unlock ways to combat climate change and environmental threats. It also reveals new perspectives on climate change and sustainable development by harnessing technology. Given today’s conditions, only a homeless vegan could achieve a sustainable ecological footprint. In reality, it would be impossible, and even destructive, to attempt to save the planet by discontinuing consumption. It would disrupt evolution and threaten the driving forces of the technology that is our hope for combating climate change and environmental threats in the future. This is the opinion of Rune Westergård, engineer, entrepreneur, and environmental debater, with several decades of experience from the field of environmental and energy technology. He challenges many established truths on consumption and sustainability and demonstrates how and why they are flawed. From his point of view, both continued global growth and increased welfare are entirely possible within the ecological limitations of our planet. Once we learn to put technology to our best advantage, one planet will be enough.

The Implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change

The Implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change PDF

Author: Vesselin Popovski

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-09-03

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 1351815784

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In December 2015, 196 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Paris Agreement, seen as a decisive landmark for global action to stop human- induced climate change. The Paris Agreement will replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2020, and it creates legally binding obligations on the parties, based on their own bottom-up voluntary commitments to implement Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The codification of the climate change regime has advanced well, but the implementation of it remains uncertain. This book focuses on the implementation prospects of the Agreement, which is a challenge for all and will require a fully comprehensive burden- sharing framework. Parties need to meet their own NDCs, but also to finance and transfer technology to others who do not have enough. How equity- based and facilitative the process will be, is of crucial importance. The volume examines a broad range of issues including the lessons that can be learnt from the implementation of previous environmental legal regimes, climate policies at national and sub-national levels and whether the implementation mechanisms in the Paris Agreement are likely to be sufficient. Written by leading experts and practitioners, the book diagnoses the gaps and lays the ground for future exploration of implementation options. This collection will be of interest to policy-makers, academics, practitioners, students and researchers focusing on climate change governance.

Climate Change

Climate Change PDF

Author: The Royal Society

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2014-02-26

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13: 0309302021

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Climate Change: Evidence and Causes is a jointly produced publication of The US National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society. Written by a UK-US team of leading climate scientists and reviewed by climate scientists and others, the publication is intended as a brief, readable reference document for decision makers, policy makers, educators, and other individuals seeking authoritative information on the some of the questions that continue to be asked. Climate Change makes clear what is well-established and where understanding is still developing. It echoes and builds upon the long history of climate-related work from both national academies, as well as on the newest climate-change assessment from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It touches on current areas of active debate and ongoing research, such as the link between ocean heat content and the rate of warming.

America's Climate Choices

America's Climate Choices PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-06-11

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 0309145856

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Climate change is occurring. It is very likely caused by the emission of greenhouse gases from human activities, and poses significant risks for a range of human and natural systems. And these emissions continue to increase, which will result in further change and greater risks. America's Climate Choices makes the case that the environmental, economic, and humanitarian risks posed by climate change indicate a pressing need for substantial action now to limit the magnitude of climate change and to prepare for adapting to its impacts. Although there is some uncertainty about future risk, acting now will reduce the risks posed by climate change and the pressure to make larger, more rapid, and potentially more expensive reductions later. Most actions taken to reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts are common sense investments that will offer protection against natural climate variations and extreme events. In addition, crucial investment decisions made now about equipment and infrastructure can "lock in" commitments to greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come. Finally, while it may be possible to scale back or reverse many responses to climate change, it is difficult or impossible to "undo" climate change, once manifested. Current efforts of local, state, and private-sector actors are important, but not likely to yield progress comparable to what could be achieved with the addition of strong federal policies that establish coherent national goals and incentives, and that promote strong U.S. engagement in international-level response efforts. The inherent complexities and uncertainties of climate change are best met by applying an iterative risk management framework and making efforts to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions; prepare for adapting to impacts; invest in scientific research, technology development, and information systems; and facilitate engagement between scientific and technical experts and the many types of stakeholders making America's climate choices.