| SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction and overview | |
| 2 | Institutions I: political and analytical organizations | Uniting on Climate: A Guide to the Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2007, pp. 7-38. (PDF - 3.7 MB)# Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Fourth Assessment Report. (PDF - 1.9 MB)# |
| 3 | Review of the mathematics of climate analysis | |
| 4 | Climate I: past climate, and gases, aerosols and radiation | Karl, Thomas R., and Kevin E. Trenberth. "Modern Global Climate Change." Science 302 (2003): 1719-1723.
Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group I, Fourth Assessment Report, pp. 1-17. (PDF - 3.7 MB)# Andreae, Meinrat, Chris Jones, and Peter Cox. "Strong Present-Day Aerosol Cooling Implies a Hot Future." Nature 435 (2005): 1187-1190. |
| 5 | Economics primer |
|
| 6 | Climate II: dynamics of the atmosphere and oceans |
Hansen, James, et al. "Earth's Energy Imbalance: Confirmation and Implications." Science 308 (2005): 1431-1435. Penner, Joyce. "Climate Change: The Cloud Conundrum." Nature 432 (2004): 962-963. |
| 7 | Economics of the global commons | The Economics of Climate Change: A Primer. US Congressional Budget Office, 2003, chapter 3. (PDF - 2.9 MB)#
|
| 8 | Economics I: economic growth, technology and greenhouse gas emissions | The Economics of Climate Change: A Primer. US Congressional Budget Office, 2003, chapters 1, 3, and 4. (PDF - 2.9 MB)#
|
| 9 | Institutions II: the international climate negotiations |
Thirteenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the FCCC and Third Sessions of the MOP to the Kyoto Protocol, 3-15 December. Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 2007. Bali Action Plan, Decision -/CP.13. Framework Convention on Climate Change, December 2007. (Also skim the COP-13 items at UNFCCC) |
| 10 | Economics II: the economics of greenhouse gas emissions control |
"The Role of Coal in Energy Growth and CO2 Emissions." Chapter 2 in The Future of Coal: Options for a Carbon-Constrained World. PDF available at The Future of Coal. McKinsey Greenhouse Gas Reports: McKinsey has several different reports related to greenhouse gas reduction. This site has related links and full reports: McKinsey & Company Executive Summary, Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much at What Cost? McKinsey & Company, 2007. (PDF)#
Babiker, Mustafa, John Reilly, and Henry Jacoby. "The Kyoto Protocol and Developing Countries." MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Report No. 56, October 1999. (PDF)# |
| 11 | Introduction to the Toy Integrated Global System Model | |
| 12 | Climate III: interaction of atmosphere, oceans and biosphere | Prinn, Ronald, et al. "Integrated Global System Model for Climate Policy Assessment: Feedbacks and Sensitivity Studies." Climatic Change 41 (1999): 469-546, sections 1, 2 and 3. Sokolov, A. P., et al. "The MIT Integrated Global System Model (IGSM) Version 2: Model Description and Baseline Evaluation." MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Report No. 124, July 2005. (PDF - 1.4 MB)# |
| 13 | Analysis of the benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation |
Oppenheimer, Michael. "Defining Dangerous Anthropogenic Interference: The Role of Science, the Limits of Science." Risk Analysis 25 (2005): 1399-1407. |
| 14 | Economics III: climate policy analysis |
Executive Summary, Scenarios of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Anthropogenic Concentrations. U.S. Climate Change Science Program, Synthesis and Assessment Product 2.1a, 2007. (PDF)# Toth, Ferenc, et al. "Exploring Options for Global Climate Policy: A New Analytical Framework." Environment 44 (2002): 23-33. |
| 15 | Emissions trading and tax systems | Ellerman, A. Denny, Paul Joskow, and David Harrison, Jr. "Emissions Trading in the U.S.: Experience, Lessons and Considerations for Greenhouse Gases." Washington, DC: Pew Center for Global Climate Change. (PDF)# Paltsev, Sergey, et al. "Assessment of U.S. GHG Cap-and-Trade Proposals." Climate Policy 8 (2008): 395-420. Parry, Ian, and William Pizer. "Combating Global Warming: Is Taxation or Cap-and-Trade a Better Strategy for Reducing Greenhouse Emissions?" Regulation 30 (2007): 18-22. |
| 16 | Climate machine IV: regional impacts of climate change | Talbot, David. "Planning for a Climate-Changed World." Technology Review, May-June 2007, pp. 63-70.
Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group II, Fourth Assessment Report. (PDF)# Stroeve, Julienne, et al. "Arctic Sea Ice Extent Plummets in 2007." EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 89 (2008): 13-14. Tedesco, Marco. "A New Record in 2007 for Melting in Greenland." EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 88 (2007): 383. Wolff, Eric. "Whither Antarctic Sea Ice?" Science 302 (2003): 1164. Whitfield, John. "Alaska's Climate: Too Hot to Handle." Nature 425 (2003): 338-339. |
| 17 | Review of methods of uncertainty analysis | |
| 18 | Integrated assessment I: sensitivity and uncertainty analysis | Prinn, Ronald, et al. "Integrated Global System Model for Climate Policy Assessment: Feedbacks and Sensitivity Studies." Climatic Change 41 (1999): 469-546, sections 4 and 5. Webster, Mort, et al. "Uncertainty Analysis of Climate Change and Policy Response." Climatic Change 61 (2003): 295-320. Forest, Chris, Peter Stone, and Andrei Sokolov. "Estimated PDFs of Climate System Properties Including Natural and Anthropogenic Forcings." Geophysical Research Letters 33 (2006): 1-4. Webster, Mort. "Communicating Climate Change Uncertainty to Policy-Makers and the Public." Climatic Change 61 (2003): 1-8. |
| 19 | Sea level rise and adaptation | Gibbons, Sheila J. Arenstam, and Robert J. Nicholls. "Island Abandoment and Sea-Level Rise: An Historical Analog from the Chesapeake Bay, USA." Global Environmental Change 16 (2006): 40-47. Chao, B. F., Y. H. Wu, and Y. S. Li. "Impact of Artificial Reservoir Water Impoundment on Global Sea Level." Science 320 (2008): 212-214. |
| 20 | Methods for decision under uncertainty | |
| 21 | Integrated assessment II: deciding global effort and burden shares | Webster, Mort, Lisa Jakobovitz, and James Norton. "Learning about Climate Change and Implications for Near-Term Policy." Climatic Change 89 (2008): 67-85.
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| 22 | Climate change and the Arctic region | Bunn, Andrew, et al. "Northern High-Latitude Ecosystems Respond to Climate Change." EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 88 (2007): 333-335.
|
| 23 | Climate V: unresolved problems in climate analysis | Kerr, Richard. "Confronting the Bogeyman of the Climate System." Science 310 (2005): 432-433. Harvell, C. Drew, et al. "Climate Warming and Disease Risks for Terrestrial and Marine Biota." Science 296 (2002): 2158-2162. Kerr, Richard. "A Bit of Icy Antarctica Is Sliding Toward the Sea." Science 305 (2004): 1897. Morton, Oliver. "Is This What it Takes to Save the World?" Nature 447 (2007): 132-136. Mann, Michael, et al. "Atlantic Tropical Cyclones Revisited." EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 88 (2007): 349. Emanuel, Kerry. "Increasing Destructiveness of Tropical Cyclones Over the Past 30 Years." Nature 436 (2005): 686-688. Schiermeier, Quirin. "Clear Skies Raise Global-Warming Estimates." Nature 435 (2005): 1142-1143. |
| 24 | Discussion of homework sets and the policy exercise | |
| 25 | Student team presentations | |
| 26 | Final summary and discussion |
Table of Contents
Study Materials
Readings
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