State of the World 2009 Released

Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 16:45

The Worldwatch Institute has released their latest annual report on the health of the environment. From the highlights page:

Emissions and Warming

According to the latest IPCC report, warming by 2100 is projected to be in the range of 1.1-6.4 degrees Celsius above the average in the 1980-99 period. Unabated, current increasing trends in emissions can be expected to raise Earth’s temperature by 4-6 degrees Celsius above today’s levels, if not more, by the end of this century. (pp. 13-14)
A recent assessment indicates that a significant number of “tipping points”-thresholds beyond which it would become difficult-to-impossible to reverse changes in the climate system-could be approached if the planet warms more than 3 degree Celsius over the preindustrial level. However, a number of tipping points-including loss of the Greenland ice sheet-could be approached at warming levels over 1.5-2 degrees Celsius. (p. 17)
The findings of the latest IPCC assessment and more-recent studies strongly reinforce the conclusion that “safe” levels of warming lie at 2 degrees Celsius or below. (p. 19)
Once greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilized, global mean temperature will continue to rise due to momentum in the climate system for several decades, but it will very likely also begin to stabilize after several decades. (p. 23)
Half of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted today is expected to remain in the atmosphere a century from now, and much will remain even 10,000 years in the future. (pp. 23-24)
Recent research has demonstrated that it is technically and economically feasible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fast enough so that their atmospheric concentrations can be limited to around 400 parts per millon of CO₂-equivalent, or to lower in the longer term. (p. 25)