A new Fact Book covering the basics of understanding of Climate Change has just been released by the SBC Energy Institute.
The FactBook is 75 pages long, and gives a good coverage of the basics of the science of Climate Change, impacts, mitigation and adaptation. Referencing the scientific literature and drawing significantly on the work of the IPCC, it discusses some of the uncertainties in the science and provides a good understanding of why, on the balance of the evidence - including the uncertainties - we need to be acting to restrict our carbon emissions.
The FactBook looks at basic climate balance,
past climate,
modern observations,
as well as impacts and the actions needed to reduce them.
The content of the book was reviewed by Dr. Michael MacCracken, Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs, Climate Institute, Washington DC and he has added comments at the end of the report.
Including: "While uncertainties remain, the changes in atmospheric composition projected for the 21st century have in the past caused warming of several degrees Celsius and been periods with much smaller ice sheets and much higher sea level. If there is a model bias, it is that current models, which do not yet include some of the slower-acting processes, underestimate rather than overestimate climate sensitivity. Global warming just cannot be summarily dismissed." (my emphasis).
Indeed.
The language is modestly technical but far more readable for a general audience than the scientific literature itself. The book is organized as individual slides, suitable for using as a presentation in a seminar, or in a blog post or video.
The FactBook is copyright free and can be freely quoted from. It can be downloaded from here. (5.27 MB, pdf). The SBC Energy Institute are hoping to distribute this report to as wide an audience as possible in the lead-up to the COP21 conference in Paris in December.
So feel free to pass this on to friends and colleagues.
The SBC Energy Institute is a not-for-profit research organization based in the Netherlands. It's research covers all areas of the energy industry, both fossil fuels and renewables, hydrogen fuels, and energy storage. It was established by Schlumberger Business Consulting, which in turn was the management consulting arm of Schlumberger, one of the worlds major energy sector services companies, particularly in Oil and Gas field technologies. SBC was recently acquired by Accenture, a large management consulting and services firm.
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Posted by Glenn Tamblyn on Thursday, 19 November, 2015
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