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Tuesday, November 20th, 2012

We’re On Pace For 4°C of Global Warming. Here’s Why That Terrifies the World Bank

Author:     BRAD PLUMER
Source:     The Washington Post
Publication Date:     November 19, 2012 at 11:28 am
 Link: We’re On Pace For 4°C of Global Warming. Here’s Why That Terrifies the World Bank
Stephan:   This is the World Bank's latest assessment concerning climate change (click through to download the full report). It should alarm all of us. Not only this story, but the report itself) makes it clear that these changes have certainly scared the WB analysts. Frankly I think this trend is going to play into the worst scenario. I say this because even if a new non-carbon based energy technology emerged in 2013, and the old energy virtual corporate states did not attempt to block its adaptation, it would take several decades for the conversion to eventuate, and in some countries many decades. There is already enough inertia in the climate systems that a 4º increase would still occur.

Over the years at the U.N. climate talks, the goal has been to keep future global warming below 2°C. But as those talks have faltered, emissions have kept rising, and that 2°C goal is now looking increasingly out of reach. Lately, the conversation has shifted toward how to deal with 3°C of warming. Or 4°C. Or potentially more.

And that topic has made a lot of people awfully nervous. Case in point: The World Bank just commissioned an analysis (pdf) by scientists at the Potsdam Institute looking at the consequences of a 4°C rise in global temperatures above pre-industrial levels by 2100. And the report appears to have unnerved many bank officials. ‘The latest predictions on climate change should shock us into action,

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