The History of Climate Change Policy

What has Trump done?

"This is the start of a new era in American energy production and job creation..... We're going to have clean coal, really clean coal." There are tons but here are the main ones: - Withdrew from Paris climate treaty - Replaced Obama's Clean Power Plan - Weakened fuel economy standards for cars - Defunded EPA and many environmental groups and promoted fossil fuel, natural gas, and unfettered oil - Suppressing climate science, removed all government info on climate science - Undermining clean energy development / energy efficiency - Trying to undercut California's climate progress Columbia University CC Law Group reported he took 131 actions towards climate deregulation since being on office. Keep in mind, he's tried to do a lot more, but thankfully his egregious actions against CC policy gets stopped by Congress or the Supreme Court.

1969-70: Moon Landing, Beginning of real policy

1969: American astronauts get to the moon, finally can look back at Earth for the first time in human history. When we looked back at Earth for the first time, we can see our atmosphere, oceans, land, everything; and it's all connected..... and pollution is REAL. There's an argument that this realization changes the way one looks at life (very valid). This initialized much of the way Americans now appreciate Earth and care about the environment in which we live. (There was no Earth Day before '69) 1970: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were both founded. Basic structure of Clean Air Act founded (also some gas bans including leaded gas).

2005-2006: Kyoto is Law, "CO2 is Life", and Stern Review

2005: The Kyoto Protocol takes effect, but without major emissions producers, including the U.S. and Russia on board, it's essentially a symbolic agreement between the 141 nations who ratified it. 2006: New ExxonMobil CEO "recognizes" climate change as an issue. Energy industry funds a "Carbon Dioxide is Life" campaign telling the public that CO2 is good for the planet, x0. Also, Al Gore funds a campaign for more of the public to be aware of CC, and CC documentary is released "An Inconvenient Truth". Stern Review (2006) concludes that climate change could damage global GDP by up to 20% if left unchecked - but curbing it would cost about 1% of global GDP. 41% of Americans believe CC is real at this time.

Obama Administration Early Years (2009-2010): Market-based cap, Republicans win the House

2009: Calls for a market-based cap on emissions, incentivizing firms to reduce emissions and develop renewable forms of energy. Throughout June and August 2009, a big climate change carbon reduction bill does not get passes by congress, as CC skeptics release their report in early June '09 (may/ may not had to do with it but likely not). New poll says only 36% of Americans believe there is solid evidence CC is real... 57% believe there is solid evidence that Earth is warming. 2010: NASA admits warming is occurring, and National Academy of Sciences admit the same. However, Republicans take the house in 2010, and most of them do oppose CC. House Republicans use their power to eliminate as many committees as possible, denying California bills, stuff of this nature.

End of Obama I (2011-2012): Backtracking, more divided on the issue, but more science

2011: More House Repubs denying, and Obama doesn't talk about CC in State of the Union speech. Gingrich now backtracks and says "that's the dumbest thing I've said on camera" (about the thing with Pelosi) and is now running for Prez. Mitt Romney says he is unsure of CC, but basically says "it would stink if the US had to pay trillions of dollars on CC." 2012: Some states (e.g. TX and LA) teach both sides of CC in schools. Republicans in their convention say Obama's ideas on CC are dumb. New evidence of surface warming, GHG are rising faster in atmosphere, Arctic sea ice measurements at a record low.

SMIC (MIT Study of Man's Impact on Climate), 1971

3-week intensive examination of the present and potential climatic effects of man's activities by 30 of the world's leading atmospheric scientists from 14 countries. Essentially discovered that human activities could in fact already be starting to impact on the Earth's climate at global scales (took into account studies from Mauna Loa)

Obama II (2013-2015):

AR4 (2014): IPCC 4th Assessment Report reports 95% confidence that humans are the dominant cause of global warming. Record high amount of CO2 reported by Mauna Loa Observatory. Clean Power Plan (2014): An Obama administration policy aimed at combating global warming that was first proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2014. The final version was unveiled by President Obama on August 3, 2015. However, the plan was stayed by the Supreme Court and not put into practice until 2019.

Kyoto Protocol (third COP) (1997)

Agreement built on the UNFCCC to bind emission reduction targets for countries. Divided them into specific annexes based on industrialization of the country, and gave out specific emission targets for them that were agreed upon by the country. It was suggested that countries report emissions in periods (ex: 2008-2012, 2013-2020). 37 countries involved, including U.S. Main target was developed/industrialized countries. Would begin examining countries in 2005. However, countries were not being punished for not meeting targets and there was a loss of welfare in developed nations but not undeveloped nations

1979 World Climate Conference (and its aftermath)

An 11-day meeting 2/12/1979 comprised of 350 specialists from 53 countries and 24 international organizations and from a wide range of disciplines including agriculture, water resources, fisheries, energy, environment, ecology, biology, medicine, sociology and economics. Decided that it is now urgently necessary for the nations of the world: 1. To take full advantage of man's [sic] present knowledge of climate. 2. To take steps to improve significantly that knowledge 3. To foresee and prevent potential man-made changes in climate that might be adverse to the well-being of humanity. The aftermath of the conference established many World Climate Programs, inspired more research, and got the UN to increase the studies of climate and atmosphere.

1985 Villach Conference, SCOPE Report

Before the conference (early '80s): Research continued throughout the multiple WCPs, but with a particular focus in the research community on the role of increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases in producing global warming. In October '85, UNEP, WMO and ICSU convened an international assessment of the role of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in climate variations and associated impacts. Scientists from 29 countries attended who declared a statement foreshadowing a global avg. temperature rise higher than any in human history. SCOPE report was the report published in '86 by Bolin et al. where most of these scientists drew their information from.

U.S. withdraws from the Kyoto Protocol (2001)

Bush administration rejects the treaty because it puts more of the burden for reducing emissions on industrialized nations instead of developing ones (remember the burden is on developed countries)

Toronto Conference (1988)

Called upon governments, the United Nations and its specialized agencies, industry, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations and individuals "to take specific actions to reduce the impending crisis caused by the pollution of the atmosphere". Also called for increased monitoring/research of WCPs, support of the proposed IPCC (see next), and the development of a comprehensive global convention of CC and atmospheric protection.

Paris COP (2015)

Conference attended by all members of the UNFCCC aimed to keep a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. Not limited to just Annex 1 Countries, countries report their progress every five years. Obama decided to join it, but Trump backed out of this deal. This deal will involve at least 55% of total emissions, and will start in November 2016 Following this, NASA and NOAA (Ocean/Atmosphere group) found 2016 to be the warmest year in history.

Nigel Calder 1974

Doubted that real warming could occur in the next 50 years, and put down the greenhouse effect. Believed we were entering an Ice Age.

2007-2008: Gore is the face, AR4 Incoming, Mauna Loa, some Republicans believe?

Early 2007: Al Gore becomes face of CC policy, wins Nobel Price for his CC efforts. Fox News comes at Gore by claiming hypocrisy. IPCC publishes 4th Assessment Report in Sept '07, confirming that climate change is occurring now, mostly as a result of human activities. With more 500 lead authors and 2,000 expert reviewers, the report is widely deemed the most definitive to date on global warming 2008: Mauna Loa observations show lots of CO2 rising in atmosphere. More skeptics groups create, but Democrat Pelosi and Republican Newt Gingrich agree that US must take action on CC in a video released to the public. Also, John McCain agrees, as he supports cap and trade legislation in his campaign.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) **

IPCC is created! First meeting took place in Geneva in 1988. Established its structure and its concept of operation as an intergovernmentally supervised expert assessment mechanism. The IPCC does not conduct research or modify data, but rather reviews data. The IPCC members do not get payed, and they provide policy relevant and policy neutral assessments of the current landscape of climate change. They published their first assessment in 1990, known as the FAR (First Assessment Report). There have been some disputes within the IPCC because a lot of time and effort goes towards making these assessments, and they can drive research too much

The Future of CC Policy

IPCC is currently working on its AR6 which is set to be published in 2021. term-27 California in particular is leading the U.S. in these types of policies, and it's worth looking at how they're combating CC. They have pretty strict restrictions on emissions, and are looking to invest more in renewable energy sources via the RPS which is looking to be implemented in the energy market.

IPCC Special Report (October 2018)

IPCC publishes special report called "Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius" Concludes that "rapid, far-reaching" actions are needed to cap global warming at 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) and avert the most dire, irreversible consequences for the planet.

Global Warming Skeptics Make a Plan (1998)

In April 1998, global warming skeptics ExxonMobil and oil companies lobby against the Kyoto Protocol, saying it's too expensive and will hurt developing countries, which the protocol targeted. Lee Raymond, CEO of Exxon at the time, was convinced the science was wrong and formed a research group to prove that the research of climate change is untrue. Then the Oregon Petition circulates, and many of the signatures were fraudulent although claimed not to be (It claimed it had real Ph.D's signing it when only 30 or so were climatologists)

1961 United Nations General Assembly Resolution

Meeting run by non-governmental groups the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) and the ICSU (International Council for Science), which allowed for developing the new scientific and technological opportunities for monitoring, predicting and eventually controlling, weather and climate. Also initiated groups to keeps tabs on the weather and the atmosphere (WMO World Weather Watch and Global Atmospheric Research Programme, GARP). However, much of the reason for this meeting was to improve our knowledge of the atmosphere, so we can more accurately predict weather... did not have much of an idea of CC.

The Greenhouse Effect

Natural phenomenon taking place in Earth's atmosphere in which heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere by carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and other gases.

pre 1950s

Nothing really. Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have begun polluting carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide (and other NOx gases), to name a few, into our atmosphere which has kept our Earth at a somewhat steady world temperature over 14 BYN YRS of existence. And no one really had any data on it, and as that occurred there was no incentive to curb any sort of emissions.

1950s

Some technological advancements during this decade improved our understanding of the atmosphere as it relates to global temperatures. For instance, post WW-II studies of atmospheric science, initiation of a number of new geophysical observation (via Mauna Loa atmospheric measurements in '57), advent of digital computers, and even the willingness for countries to use a United Nations system to cooperate on global issues (which was a post WWII/Cold War idea).

Greta and the Climate Action Summit

Swedish teenager and climate activist Greta Thunberg began protesting in front of Swedish Parliament with a sign: "School Strike for Climate". The rest is history, but she became a very prominent figure in CC policy. Many people see her as a visionary, and much of the younger generation hears her and is believing of what she has to say. She famously took a boat across the Atlantic to the United Nations Climate Summit in New York City in August '19. Helped set a deadline for achieving net zero emissions to 2050.

The Second World Climate Conference (1990)

This meeting included technical presentations from 700+ people and sessions with 900+ people in attendance, and total countries present was 130+. The purpose of the WCC-2 was to review the first decade of progress under the WCP, and provide reviews of the WCP as a whole, including many achievements attributing climate change info and research to possible challenges in food, water, energy and urban and building design. Also its second purpose was to review the FAR, the first IPCC report. It provided a lead-in to the negotiations for a UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). Some takeaways from this conference were that there are many potential issues that may arise from CC, and there was much discussion among these people on some ways they can solve it. Established Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), and this conference represented the most broadly based call thus far for cooperative international action on climate change. Called for UNFCCC, and expedited research on CC.

What Can I do?

Though the problem seems super large scale, there are tons of ways you can help you and your community reduce individual carbon emissions. They are not too large and unable to be controlled by an individual though. One way is by going vegetarian, as the production of cattle produces a very significant amount of carbon and methane emissions into our atmosphere. Fuel efficient vehicles or biking more and driving less are a few more ways. It doesn't seem like much, but over time real impacts are made and especially if you influence your community to follow suit. Energy efficient choices (e.g. heating systems, and light bulb sources). An investment in solar panels if possible. I know California will offer rebate on part of your energy bill and offer other subsidies for doing so.

The UNFCC (first COP) (1992)

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (first Conference of the Parties) International environmental treaty negotiated in 1992. Its goal was to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Also stated that ecosystems should be allowed to adapt naturally, food supply should not be threatened, economic development should be able to proceed in a sustainable manner. This treaty was signed by 155 countries in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil in June '92.

1987 WMO Congress Meeting

WMO = World Meteorological Organization, based in SUI, intergovernmental group oversees weather/climate. Built on Villach conference, found global warming as a major threat to sustainable development. Also considered that the assessment mechanism should operate under the overall guidance of governments rather than solely through scientists serving in their personal capacities (basically that the government would oversee these findings and the research)