IPCC Archive

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  Carbon offsets – keeping it real! - by frog

  
  
  
  Simon Johnson is a conservationist, tramper, accountant, former DoC worker and resource management consultant. Simon also blogs periodically at Hot-Topic.co.nz. In this guest post he writes about carbon offsetting from the point of view of a carbon forest. I am one of the trustees of a small 47-hectare carbon forest sink and native re-vegetation project [...] read more
  December 20, 2012 9:21 am - 33 Comments
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  In preparation for Doha: Assessing New Zealand on Climate Change - by Kennedy Graham

  
  
  
  With the 18th UN climate change conference under way, every country will have its climate change policy under scrutiny.  This blog sets out where New Zealand stands. Four criteria are relevant to assessing a country’s performance. How has it done with emissions record from 1990 to 2012? What targets has it announced for 2020 and [...] read more
  November 29, 2012 1:29 pm - 26 Comments
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  Climate change and New Zealand – Mr Groser leads us to the promised land… - by Kennedy Graham

  
  
  
  Two months ago, international scientists reported that the Polar ice-cap had melted far faster than the IPCC anticipated, about 80% since 1980.  It might have its first ice-free day about 2015 (half a century ahead of expectations) and be completely ice-free around 2030-35. This was described as ‘terrifying news’ by the leading scientist, since it [...] read more
  November 7, 2012 1:47 pm - 18 Comments
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  Climate change and human psychoses – seeking, genuinely, a National-Green dialogue - by Kennedy Graham

  
  
  
  It has been a week of climate change. A quarter century, actually, since the US Senate and the Brundtland Report put the issue on the international agenda.  We’ve had, since then, Rio and Cairo, Kyoto and Marrakesh, Copenhagen and Cancun and Durban, and Rio again. But the past week has been especially intensive, and this [...] read more
  September 21, 2012 12:16 pm - 35 Comments
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  Post-Rio reflections – addressing the global crises #2 - by Kennedy Graham

  
  
  
  The 1st post-Rio+20 reflection last week argued that the international community of states has failed the global community of peoples in ensuring global sustainability (comprised of resource conservation, climate stabilisation and biodiversity).  There are, it said, two global crises: an ecological crisis and a governance crisis. On governance, what was needed is the replacement, or [...] read more
  July 30, 2012 2:06 pm - 3 Comments
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  Addressing the global crises with purpose and resolve…post-Rio reflections - by Kennedy Graham

  
  
  
  This is the first of a series of blogs reflecting on the Rio+20 conference of June 2012. It is a question of the cognitive framework we adopt, as individuals or governments. -          Do we regard the environmental problems we face today as in the nature of other problems human society has faced before, and one [...] read more
  July 20, 2012 8:44 am - 24 Comments
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  “We shall not make it, and we shall pay the price”;…unless we change direction… - by Kennedy Graham

  
  
  
  Legislators make laws.  But they are also politicians, and politicians can talk – Darwin makes sure about that. That became clear this afternoon, at the Rio+20 World Summit of Legislators. Saturday afternoon we focused on climate change.  The GLOBE secretariat has undertaken a systematic study of national legislation which, just in passing, disproved the contention [...] read more
  June 18, 2012 3:05 pm - 2 Comments
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  NZ scientists feature in next IPCC team - by frog

  
  
  
  The IPCC has announced the new team of scientists who will prepare its 5th Assessment Report (AR5), due in late 2013 or early 2014. There were 831 scientists named, including some notable New Zealand scientists. read more
  June 25, 2010 11:31 am - 3 Comments
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  How the IPCC works - by frog

  
  
  
  In some circles the IPCC is dismissed as “alarmist” or fuelling a left-wing conspiracy to “de-industrialise” modern society. I would have thought that the world’s largest collection international experts would have been the a pretty reliable place to get hard facts from, but maybe that’s just me… Perhaps some insight into how the IPCC works will [...] read more
  November 12, 2009 5:51 pm - 6 Comments
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  An update on climate change, from the UN - by frog

  
  
  
  As an update to the latest IPCC report from the UN, they’ve released the Climate Change Science Compendium 2009. It “is a review of some 400 major scientific contributions to our understanding of Earth Systems and climate that have been released through peer-reviewed literature or from research institutions over the last three years”. A lot [...] read more
  October 19, 2009 2:20 pm - 32 Comments
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  Green MPs Support 350 Challenge - by frog

  
  
  
  Green MPs support Bill McKibben’s campaign to reduce carbon in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, down from the current 389 ppm which is going up every year.  Scientists believe this would keep the global temperature rise to less than 2C. Meanwhile, the NACT government struggles with denial.  National’s “target” is a 50% reduction [...] read more
  June 9, 2009 7:00 am - 42 Comments
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  Water vapour research validates climate models - by frog

  
  
  
  For those who wish to deny the climate science outright, you have just lost another straw man. For those who wish to engage with the science, acknowledging its limitations, this latest research is for you. The sceptics love to bash on about how water vapour is the real greenhouse culprit, how climate scientists ignore it [...] read more
  November 20, 2008 10:07 am - 74 Comments
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  The carbon report – we’re certainly not running out - by frog

  
  
  
  Last Thursday, the Global Carbon Project released its annual report on the state of the carbon cycle, Carbon Budget 2007 [pdf]. And the news is that carbon dioxide emissions are up 3 percent for 2007 Dot Earth commented: More than half of global emissions, which totalled more than 34 billion tons of CO2 in 2007, [...] read more
  September 30, 2008 8:19 am - 2 Comments
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  Climate change – 10 simple facts - by frog

  
  
  
  There’s a nice little summary of global warming facts here at Good: 2005 was the warmest year ever recorded, closely followed by 1998 and 2007. Twelve of the 13 warmest years on record were between 1995 and 2007. The reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are based on the peer-reviewed, published work [...] read more
  August 14, 2008 11:48 am - 45 Comments
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  Pachauri: ‘please read the science’ - by frog

  
  
  
  World Environment Day has bought the head of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Rajendra Pachauri, to New Zealand.  Pachauri is moving the IPCC beyond stating the science in ways that have allowed climate change deniers to obfuscate and confuse the message.  He is now using much plainer language.  Famously, this now widely [...] read more
  June 5, 2008 8:34 am - 13 Comments
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  Can the media cover climate change? - by frog

  
  
  
  There is an interesting debate going about whether the media can and is reporting climate change effectively. The Committee for Sceptical Inquiry notes of news coverage in America: according to data tracked by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, climate change failed to crack the top twenty most covered news stories of the year. [...] read more
  March 6, 2008 3:29 pm - 7 Comments
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  What the IPCC couldn’t tell us this year - by frog

  
  
  
  By all accounts, the IPCC’s report this year was its starkest warning yet about the risks we face from climate change. What they couldn’t tell us, despite almost everyone in the room being aware of it, was that more up to date research was available showing that the climate is changing faster than all their [...] read more
  November 30, 2007 12:13 pm - 46 Comments
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  Kiwi scientists hold their own at the IPCC - by frog

  
  
  
  Congratulations to the scientists representing New Zealand at last week’s IPCC conference for not getting all political and sticking to the science. Even on the topic of methane emissions, where NZ is most vulnerable, the Kiwis held their ground and stuck to the numbers. In several areas they helped prevent attempts by some of the [...] read more
  November 21, 2007 9:59 am - 9 Comments
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  No, not the Pinot Noir! - by frog

  
  
  
  Now I don‘ t want to alarm you but climate change might not just mean global degradation, destruction of our biodiversity, and threats to humanity.  It could also lower the quality or quantity of Waipara Valley wine.   The IPCC report, which comments on the impact of Climate Change on the entire world, put aside [...] read more
  November 19, 2007 4:56 pm - 3 Comments