Questions 239reduce emissions and slow the rate of change; that emissions of green-
house gases up to the present have already produced a commitment to
significant climate change over the next decades implying substantial re-
quirements for adaptation and that more substantial emissions reductions
will eventually be required for which planning must begin now.
The next chapter will consider some of the actions in more detail in
the light of the principles we have enunciated in this chapter and in the
context of the international Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Questions
1 It is sometimes argued that, in scientific enquiry, ‘consensus’ can never be
achieved, because debate and controversyare fundamental to the search
for scientific truth. Discuss what is meant by ‘consensus’ and whether you
agree with this argument. Do you think the IPCC Reports have achieved
‘consensus’?
2 How much do you think the value of IPCC Reports depends on (1) the peer
review process to which they have been subjected, and (2) the involvement
of governments in the presentation of scientific results?
3 Look out as many definitions of ‘sustainable development’ as you can find.
Discuss which you think is the best.
4 Make a list of appropriate indicators that might be used to assess the degree
to which a country is achieving sustainable development. Which do you think
might be the most valuable?
5 Work out the value ofa ‘cost’ today if it is twenty, fifty or one hundred
years into the future and the assumed discount rate is one, two or five per
cent. Look up and summarise the arguments for discounting future costs as
presented for instance in various chapters of the IPCC 1995 and the IPCC
2001 Reports.^17 What do you think is the most appropriate discount rate to
use?
6 Construct, as far as you are able, a set of environmental accounts for your
country including items of ‘natural’ capital. Your accounts will not neces-
sarily be all in terms of money.
7 Because of continuing economic growth, there is an expectation that the
world will be very much richer by the middle of the twenty-first century
and therefore, it is sometimes argued, in a better position than now to tackle
the impacts or the mitigation of climate change. Do you agree with this
argument?
Notes for Chapter 9
1 Houghton, J. T., Jenkins, G. J., Ephraums, J. J. (eds.) 1990.Climate Change:
the IPCC Scientific Assessments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
p. 365; Executive Summary, p. xii. Similar but more elaborate statements are
in the 1995 and the 2001 IPCC Reports.