Bicol University

College of Engineering
Legazpi City

VISTA, HERMIALYN B. BSCE-3D

What Is Climate Change?

Climate change is a change in the usual weather found in a place. This could be a change in
how much rain a place usually gets in a year. Or it could be a change in a place's usual temperature
for a month or season.

Climate change is also a change in Earth's climate. This could be a change in Earth's usual
temperature. Or it could be a change in where rain and snow usually fall on Earth.

Weather can change in just a few hours. Climate takes hundreds or even millions of years to
change.

People who study Earth see that Earth's climate is getting warmer. Earth's temperature has
gone up about one degree Fahrenheit in the last 100 years. This may not seem like much. But small
changes in Earth's temperature can have big effects.

Some effects are already happening. Warming of Earth's climate has caused some snow
and ice to melt. The warming also has caused oceans to rise. And it has changed the timing of when
certain plants grow.

What Is Causing Earth's Climate to Change?

Many things can cause climate to change all on its own. Earth's distance from the sun can
change. The sun can send out more or less energy. Oceans can change. When a volcano erupts, it
can change our climate.

Most scientists say that humans can change climate too. People drive cars. People heat and
cool their houses. People cook food. All those things take energy. One way we get energy is by
burning coal, oil and gas. Burning these things puts gases into the air. The gases cause the air to
heat up. This can change the climate of a place. It also can change Earth's climate.

Changes in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and aerosols, land-

cover and solar radiation alter the energy balance of the climate system. Global GHG emissions due
to human activities have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70% between 1970
and 2004. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important anthropogenic (man-made) greenhouse gas.
Its annual emissions grew by about 80%
between 1970 and 2004.
Bicol University
College of Engineering
Legazpi City

VISTA, HERMIALYN B. BSCE-3D

Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century
is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (man-made) greenhouse gas (GHG)
concentrations. It is likely there has been significant anthropogenic warming over the past 50 years
averaged over each continent (except Antarctica). During the past 50 years, the sum of solar and
volcanic forcing would likely have produced cooling.

GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE

Bicol University
College of Engineering
Legazpi City

VISTA, HERMIALYN B. BSCE-3D

SCOPE OF GHG EMISSIONS

Bicol University
College of Engineering
Legazpi City

VISTA, HERMIALYN B. BSCE-3D

What Might Happen to Earth's Climate

Scientists think that Earth's temperature will keep going up for the next 100 years. This
would cause more snow and ice to melt. Oceans would rise higher. Some places would get hotter.
Other places might have colder winters with more snow. Some places might get more rain. Other
places might get less rain. Some places might have stronger hurricanes.

CARBON FOOTPRINT

 The climate impact measured in carbon equivalent (CO2eq) emissions.

 The total amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) produced to support human activities
directly and indirectly, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).
 A measure of the impact our activities have on the environment and particularly in
the climate change.
 The carbon footprint is a very powerful tool to understand the impact of personal
behavior on global warming.

TYPES OF CARBON FOOTPRINT ASSESSMENT

Bicol University
College of Engineering
Legazpi City

VISTA, HERMIALYN B. BSCE-3D

CARBON
FOOTPRINT

BUILDINGS/
PRODUCTS AND
OFFICES/
SERVICES
INDUSTRIES

EXAMPLES OF OFFICE / INDUSTRY CARBON FOOTPRINT

Bicol University
College of Engineering
Legazpi City

VISTA, HERMIALYN B. BSCE-3D

HOW CAN WE REDUCE OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT?

1. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

2. Turn off and unplug all electrical appliances when not in use.

3. Walk, Cycle, Carpool, and Use public transport when possible.

4. Take a shower instead of a bath.

5. Reuse your shopping bags.

6. Close doors to keep heat in.

7. Use low energy light bulbs.

8. Plant a tree.

9. Only turn on the dishwasher or washing machine when full.

10. Segregate your trash.

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION

Bicol University
College of Engineering
Legazpi City

VISTA, HERMIALYN B. BSCE-3D

The climate change adaptation and mitigation are under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Under the UFCCC, there is an international emissions
reduction treaty called the Kyoto Protocol (KP), also known as the “Climate Protocol”, adopted in
1997 which commits 43 Annex A (developed) countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions.

  The Philippines is not part of the Annex A countries and therefore, has no targets to reduce
its GHG emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. But the Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol provides the
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as one of the three modalities for developed countries to
transfer greenhouse gas emission reduction technologies to developing or underdeveloped
countries.

CDM (CLIMATE DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM)

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), defined in Article 12 of the Protocol, allows a

country with an emission-reduction or emission-limitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol

(Annex B Party) to implement an emission-reduction project in developing countries.

It is the first global, environmental investment and credit scheme of its kind, providing a

standardized emissions offset instrument, CERs.

A CDM project activity might involve, for example, a rural electrification project using solar

panels or the installation of more energy-efficient boilers.

The mechanism stimulates sustainable development and emission reductions, while giving

industrialized countries some flexibility in how they meet their emission reduction or limitation

targets.
Bicol University
College of Engineering
Legazpi City

VISTA, HERMIALYN B. BSCE-3D

The role of forests in sequestering carbon and helping to mitigate climate change was
recognized through the Kyoto Protocol. However, only afforestation and reforestation activities were
accepted for inclusion in the Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Avoided
deforestation, also known as reducing emissions from deforestation, was excluded as an emissions
reduction strategy, only to be reintroduced into United Nations Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) negotiations at its 11th Conference of Parties (CoP) in Montreal in 2005 through a formal
proposal by the Coalition of Rainforest Nations. Negotiations and research ensued, and in 2007, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identified the forestry sector as the second
leading cause of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions after the energy sector, responsible for
approximately 17% of emissions, largely as a result of deforestation (Pachauri and Reisinger, 2007).
Ensuring proposals for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation (RED) (avoided deforestation) were
later expanded to include reduced emissions from forest degradation.

At the 13th CoP in Bali in 2007, proposals to address Reduced Emissions from Deforestation
and forest Degradation (REDD) received considerable support and the Parties agreed to consider
policy approaches and positive performance-based incentives to address REDD as well as
Bicol University
College of Engineering
Legazpi City

VISTA, HERMIALYN B. BSCE-3D

sustainable forest management, carbon stock enhancement and associated biodiversity

conservation and social co-benefits, in developing countries.

At the 15th CoP in Copenhagen, Denmark held in December 2009, the CoP noted
consensus among some of the Parties with the Copenhagen Accord1, which agreed “on the need to
provide positive incentives to such actions through the immediate establishment of a mechanism
including REDD-plus, to enable the mobilization of financial resources from developed countries”
(UNFCCC, 2009a).

The adoption of REDD-plus extended allowable activities to include:

 reduce emissions from deforestation;

 reduce emissions from forest degradation;
 conserve forest carbon stocks;
 pursue sustainable management of forests; and
 pursue the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (UNFCCC, 2009b).

The UNFCCC definition, however, does not articulate what specific carbon stock enhancement
activities would be rewarded, nor clearly prioritizes the delivery of additional environmental and
social benefits from REDD-plus. This PNRPS clarifies the types of forestry activities that should be
pursued nationally and adopts a strong vision of how REDD-plus efforts can deliver additional social,
biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service benefits.

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS ON CLIMATE CHANGE: ROLE OF INDIA, CHINA, AND

USA

(THE COPENHAGEN ACCORD)

The Copenhagen Accord is a framework hammered out by a group of world leaders in a

series of closed room conferences or sessions. But there are many countries who objected to formal
adoption of the Accord. (Bolivia, Cuba, Peru and Venezuela)

It is a voluntary framework with negotiations to continue in 2010 towards a legally binding

instrument that would either accompany or supersede the Kyoto Protocol. The key details of the
Accord are the emissions reduction targets for industrialized countries and emissions mitigation
actions of developing countries.

THE ACCORD REPRESENTS THE MOVEMENT FORWARD ON SEVERAL FRONTS:

 Global temperature limits

Bicol University
College of Engineering
Legazpi City

VISTA, HERMIALYN B. BSCE-3D

 Emissions limitation pledges

 Developing country reporting
 REDD
 Climate finance
 Technology

THE ACCORD FALLS SHORT OF WHAT IS NEEDED IN SEVERAL AREAS:

 Level of ambition
 A move away from legally binding
 The negotiations process

Continued progress in the international negotiations and by key countries like China and
India will assure policymakers that the U.S. is not alone in the effort to combat climate
change.

REFERENCES:

Copenhagen Climate Change Conference - December 2009 | UNFCCC

The Copenhagen Accord | Union of Concerned Scientists (ucsusa.org)