Climate

Change Issues
& Responses
Greenhouse gas emissions and
potential effects, responses to CO2
build-up, and mitigation.
CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE |NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC
Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal

Global Temperature Rise Warming Ocean Shrinking Ice Sheets

Extreme Events Ocean Acidification Sea Level Rise

 Earth’s Energy
Balance

Sources and sinks of energy that affect

the heat balance and the average
temperature of the biosphere.
Atmospheric CO₂ concentration
Global average long-term atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂), measured in parts per million
(ppm). Long-term trends in CO₂ concentrations can be measured at high-resolution using preserved air samples
from ice cores.

For millennia, atmospheric carbon dioxide had never been above this line
1950 level

Source: EPICA Dome C CO2 record (2015) & NOAA (2018)

Average temperature anomaly, Global
Global average land-sea temperature anomaly relative to the 1961-1990 average temperature.

Source: Hadley Centre (HadCRUT4)

Note: The red line represents the median average temperature change, and grey lines represent the upper
and lower 95% confidence intervals.
Example 1:

• It is estimated that if all the air in the atmosphere were under standard conditions (1 atm pressure
and 298 K), its volume would be approximately 4 × 1018 m3. Estimate from the Figure the mass of
CO2 that was added since the year 1750.
Example 1: solution

• The parts per million in the figure refer to volumetric quantities, which also correspond to molar
quantities. In the year 1750, 1 million (106) m3 of air contained the equivalent of 280 m3 of CO2. Under
standard conditions, 1 kmol of any gas occupies 22.4 m3.

• Therefore, the 1 million m3 of air contains 280/22.4 = 12.5 kmol, or 550 kg of CO 2. Hence, the entire
atmosphere contained approximately 4 × 1012 × 550 = 2.20 × 1015 kg of CO2.

• In 2015, the concentration of 400 ppm corresponds to 400 m 3 of CO2/million m3 of air. This is the
equivalent of 400/22.4 = 17.86 kmol of CO2, or 786 kg of CO2/million m3 of air. The entire atmosphere
contains 4 × 1012 × 786= 3.14 × 1015 kg of CO2. The difference between the beginning of the industrial
revolution and our days is 0.96 1015 kg of CO2, which was added in the atmosphere since the year 1750.
Social & Economic Impact of Climate Change
Mitigating & Remedial
Actions
Formation of Sulfur Dioxide
and Nitrogen Oxides
• Fossil fuels, coal, natural gas, and crude oil, contain small
amounts of sulfur, typically in the range of 0–2%.
• When fossil fuels burn, gaseous sulfur dioxide (SO2) is
formed and released in the atmosphere.
• Since all combustion processes use the ambient air, which
contain 79% nitrogen (N2), and take place at very high
temperatures, a small amount of nitrogen combines with
oxygen and forms the three nitrogen oxides, N2O, NO, and
NO2, which are denoted as NOX.
• Even though they are produced in significantly lower amounts
than carbon dioxide, the main product of the combustion
process, these chemicals constitute an environmental threat,
because they are significantly more toxic than CO2.
Example 2

• A 400 MW power plant has thermal efficiency 37% and burns anthracite, which has a heat
content 29,000 kJ/kg and contains 1.2% sulfur by weight. This anthracite contains 94% carbon by
weight. It is estimated that during the combustion process, NO2 is also formed at the rate 0.02%
of the formation rate of CO2. Determine the amounts of CO2, SO2, and NO2 produced by this
power plant per day, per week, and per year.
Example 2: solution

• At first, we need to calculate the amount of heat used by this power plant and the amount of coal/anthracite needed
to produce this heat. With a thermal efficiency of 37%, the power plant uses 400/0.37 = 1,081 MW, or 1,081,000 kW
of heat. This corresponds to 1,081,000 × 60 × 60 × 24 = 93.4 × 109 kJ per day. And this quantity of heat is supplied by
the combustion of 93.4 × 109/29,000 kg = 3.22 × 106 kg of anthracite (or 3,220 t).* At 94% carbon content, the power
plant burns 0.94 × 3.22 × 106 = 3.03 × 106 kg carbon per day.
• From the chemical reaction C + O2 → CO2, 1 kg of C produces 44/12 = 3.67 kg of CO2, and, hence, this power plant
produces 11.1 × 106 kg of CO2 daily. This is the equivalent of 27.75 t of CO2/(MW·day). The weekly amount of CO2
produced is 77.77 × 106 kg, and the annual amount is 4.06 × 109 kg of CO2 (4.06 million t!).
• Since the amounts of NO2 produced are 0.02% (0.0002) of the amount of CO 2 produced, the power plant produces
11.1 × 106 × 0.0002 = 2.22 × 103 kg, 15.56 × 103 kg, and 811 × 103 kg (811 t) of NO2 daily, weekly and annually,
respectively.
• For the calculation of the SO2 released, it is noted that this power plant burns daily 0.012 × 3.22 × 106 = 38.64 × 103
kg of sulfur, which has an atomic weight 32 kg/kmol.
• From the reaction S + O2 → SO2, 32 kg of sulfur produces 64 kg of SO2, and hence, the 38.65 × 103 kg of sulfur burned
daily produces 77.3 × 103 kg of sulfur dioxide daily, 541.1 × 103 kg of SO 2 weekly, and 28.21 × 106 kg (28,210 t!) of SO2
annually.
Acid Rain – in Brief
Acid Rain – Examples

• Some of the most dramatic acid precipitation observations of the 1970s in North
America and Europe:

1. A storm in Scotland in 1974 dropped rain with pH 2.4, which mixed with
local waters.
2. The pH of rain in Kane, Pennsylvania, on September 19, 1978, was 2.32. This
is lower than the pH of common vinegar!
3. For the entire year of 1975, rains in Norway and Sweden recorded pH less
than 4.6.
4. During the 1970s, the pH of 80% of drizzles in Holland was less than 3.5 and
sometimes as low as 2.5.
Acid Rain – Mitigations

• In the United States, a goal was set to reduce SO2 emissions from 28 million t per year in 1970 to
less than 9 million t per year by 2010. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the United
States incorporated this program in an amendment to the Clean Air Act* and developed a market-
based initiative to achieve the reduction in SO2 emissions at their sources.
 Cap & Trade program
• The European Union (EU) countries also took measures for the reduction in the SO2 and NOX
emissions: the Cooperative Program for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range
Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe, which started in 1980, achieved a 75% decrease in the
SO2 emissions between 1980 and 2005.
• Acid precipitation reduction programs have been immensely successful in both Europe and North
America, where the 2010 reduction goals were met before 2007. As a result, in the beginning of
the twenty-first century, acid deposition has dropped by more than two thirds from its peak in
the 1970s and is not considered to be the environmental and ecological threat it was in the past.
Acid Rain – Engineering Solutions

• Reduction in the amount of coal used for the production of electricity.

• Blending high-sulfur coal with low-sulfur coal.
• Switching coal as fuel to natural gas or a mixture of coal and natural gas.
• Implementation of new technologies for the in situ removal of SO2.
• Increasing the demand-side management and conservation efforts to reduce the
electric power consumption (or reduce the growth rate of power consumption).
• Power purchases from other power generators that use low-sulfur coal or other
fuels.
• Crude oil also contains a small fraction of sulfur, which is removed during refining.
How can we decarbonize our energy systems?
1. Reduction of energy consumption: Since most GHGs are produced by energy-related activities—primarily from
fossil fuel combustion—this is the most effective of the actions the global community may take to at least reduce
the growth of the annual CO2 emissions, especially in the wealthier, developed nations.
2. Shift towards low-carbon electricity (reduce carbon intensity – carbon per unit energy)
– Renewables
– Nuclear energy
– Shift from coal to gas (which emits less CO2 per unit energy) as an interim step (Emissions by fuel)

3. Shift sectors such as transport, towards electricity. Some energy sectors are harder to decarbonize – for example,
transport. We therefore need to shift these forms towards electricity where we have viable low-carbon
technologies.
(Emissions by sector)

4. Develop low-cost low-carbon energy and battery technologies. To do this quickly, and allow lower-income
countries to avoid high-carbon development pathways, low-carbon energy needs to be cost-effective and the
default choice.

5. Improve energy efficiency – energy per unit GDP (Energy Intensity).

The Kyoto Protocol

• The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997 in Kyoto Japan within the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change, was the primary mechanism through which the
global community took steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• The Kyoto Protocol entered into force in February 2005, and obliged industrialized
countries that have ratified the accord to reduce their emissions of greenhouse
gases (GHG), the major contributors being carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous
oxide.
• The Kyoto Protocol was a significant first step. It was the most far-reaching
environmental agreement ever adopted.
• Under the Protocol, each industrialized country set a binding greenhouse gas
emission target to reduce emissions below 1990 levels by 2012. These targets are
different for each country.
The Paris Agreement

• The Kyoto agreement was followed by other meetings, including one in Copenhagen, Denmark, (2009) and
another in Cancun, Mexico, (2011). The result of both meetings has not been significant in curbing the GHG
emissions.
• In December 2015, most of the UN countries sent representatives to Paris, France, where a celebrated
agreement was reached among several nations, including EU countries, the United States, PRC, India, and
Russia.
• The main elements of this agreement are as follows:
1. Reaffirm the goal of limiting global temperature increase below 2°C and urge
efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C.
2. Ask for binding commitments by all parties to make “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs).
3. Commit all signatories to regularly report on their emissions and the progress made in implementing and achieving their NDCs and to
undergo international review.
4. Commit all countries to submit new NDCs every 5 years, with the clear expectation that they will represent progress relative to
previous NDCs.
5. Reaffirm the binding obligations of developed countries to support the efforts of developing countries.
6. Encourage voluntary actions by developing countries.
Annual total CO₂ emissions, by world region
This measures CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels and cement production only – land use change is not
included.

Source: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC); Global Carbon Project (GCP)
Change in per capita CO₂ emissions and GDP, World
Annual consumption-based emissions are domestic emissions adjusted for trade. If a country imports
goods the CO₂ emissions needed to produce such goods are added to its domestic emissions; if it exports
goods then this is subtracted.

Source: Global Carbon Project; World Bank

Note: GDP is measured in constant 2011 international-$ which adjust for inflation and cross-country price differences.
The Kigali agreement

• The Kigali agreement in October 2016 is an international agreement to gradually reduce the
consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
• The Kigali agreement calls for the total substitution of the more potent GHGs that are used as
refrigerants with other refrigerants, which are more benign to the ozone layer and are not as
potent as GHGs.
• Specifically, the Kigali agreement calls for the substitution of HFCs with hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs)
globally.
• The manufacturing of HFOs is inexpensive, and the engineering modifications to the refrigeration
equipment design are modest and may be accomplished with low cost. Thus, it will not have a
disruptive effect on the economies of the countries that adopt it.
• As of 3rd October 2020, 105 states and the European Union had ratified the Kigali Amendment. [
United Nations]
Climate Change Mitigation Policies & Measures

Climate Change Mitigation Policies

and Measures in
Europe

Policies of the Future: A Guide to L

ocal Environmental Governance in
Tunisia