Key findings of IPCC on regional climate-change impacts overall considered well founded
PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency found no errors that would undermine the main conclusions in the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on possible future regional impacts of climate change. The IPCC report conclusively shows that these effects already are visible in many places around the world, and that these will become more serious under further temperature increases. However, the foundation for some of these conclusions could have been made more transparent.
Furthermore, the PBL found that, in the IPCC’s summary conclusions, the emphasis had been put on the main negative impacts of climate change. It is the PBL’s advice, for future IPCC reports, to supplement this ‘risk approach’ with 1) a summary of the full spectrum of the effects of climate change, and 2) with an analysis of worst-case scenarios.
Additional investments in quality control also are deemed necessary in order to avoid mistakes and shortcomings, to the extent possible.
These are the main conclusions and recommendations in the report ‘Assessing an IPCC assessment: an analysis of statements on projected regional impacts in the 2007 report’, published today by PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. The PBL has conducted this investigation into the reliability of information in the regional chapters of the IPCC Working Group II Report, at the request of the Dutch Minister for the Environment. To ensure the quality of this investigation, it was carried out under the supervision of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
Continue: Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Tags: Global Warming, IPCC
