Climate change science & climate policy

The effects of global warming are expected to range from an increase of weather disturbances to a rise of the sea level.
The problem is caused by the increase of the greenhouse gas (GHG, e.g. CO2, CH4) concentration in the atmosphere. The net increase of the GHG concentration is the balance of various sources (combustion of fossil fuels and land use changes, e.g. deforestation) and sinks (net carbon build up in plants and trees in certain regions) of CO2. The processes involved are basically known, therefore counter measures are under investigation including the reduction of emissions and the increase of the sinks as well as the adaptation of human living conditions to the changes.

UNFCCC, Rio 1992

The basis of the current climate policy discussion is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, Rio 1992). Based on this convention and the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) global and national actions to counteract the development are under way. The most important international initiative is the Kyoto Protocol (KP) whose initial version has been adopted with a few changes at the Bonn Climate Conference in July 2001. The main features of the KP are reduction of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use mainly through the use of renewables and the enhancement of sinks for CO2. The goal for the industrialized countries is an average 5,2 % reduction of GHG by 2010 compared to 1990, counting both emission reduction and additional sinks. The means to achieve this and to verify the achievement are described in a complex set of rules of the KP that include “flexible mechanisms”, e.g. emission trading between countries, “Joint Implementation Projects” and “Clean Development Mechanisms”.