projected_impacts

Section 1: Energy Management
Introduction to Global Warming

4. Projected impacts of global warming

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which advises the United Nations, is responsible for providing the international community with authoritative advice on scientific, technical and economic issues relating to climate change.

The IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report (2007) concluded that climate change has accelerated in recent decades, and that most of the warming over the past 50 years is attributable to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Moreover, scientists predict that temperatures will continue to rise in the 21st century.

Climate change has the potential to adversely affect our environment, our communities and our economy unless we take action now to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and prepare for the impacts of climate change.

The most recent (2007) report of the world’s most authoritative body of climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), confirmed that:

Temperatures have already risen 0.76°C over the past century and there is more than 90% probability that most of this global warming was caused by humans.
Eleven of the last twelve years (1995-2006) rank among the 12 warmest years on record.
Melting of glaciers and ice caps is already contributing to sea level rise.
Many long term changes in climate have already been observed. These include differences in Arctic temperatures and ice, and changes in extreme weather events like droughts, heat waves and tropical cyclones.