http://globalchange.mit.edu/Outlook2012/

Energy and Climate Outlook: 2012Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Co-Directors:John Reilly Ron Prinn

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Purpose and Scope• Uses IGSM to look at the world’s current

development path and determine the associated energy and climate implications.

• Incorporates 2020 emissions reduction targets G20 nations made at the 2009 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (i.e. Copenhagen pledges), showing how far these pledges take us, and what is at risk if we fail to push beyond these goals.

• Reports results for 3 broad groups: • Developed countries (USA, Canada,

Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand)

• Other G20 nations (China, India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, and several fast-growing Asian economies)

• The rest of the world

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Trace gasfluxes (CO2,CH4, N2O)and poli cyconstraints

CO2, CH4,CO,N2O, NOx, SOx,NH3, CFCs,HFCs, PFCs, SF6,VOCs, BC, etc.

Hydrology/waterresources

Agriculture,forestry,bio-energy,ecosystemproductivity

Humanhealtheffects

Implementation of feedbacks is under de velopment

Exchanges utili zed in targeted studies

Exchanges represented in standa rd runs of the s ystem

EarthSystem

EmissionsPrediction andPolicyAnalysis (EPPA)National and/or Regional Economic Development,

Emissions & Land Use

HumanSystem

Land usechange

Atmosphere2-Dimensional Dynamical,

Physical & ChemicalProcesses

Ocean2- or 3-Dimensional

Dynamical, Biological,Chemical & I ceProcesses

UrbanAirshedAir Pollution Processes

LandWater & Energy Budgets (CLM)

Biogeochemical Processes(TEM & NEM)

Coupled Ocean,Atmosphere, andLand

Sea levelchange

Climate/energydemand

Solarforcing

Volcanicforcing

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Major Findings• Emissions in the developed countries will nearly stabilize, while global emissions

will continue to grow rapidly.

• Global change will accelerate with changes in temperature, precipitation and land use, and the world’s oceans will warm and acidify.

• Population and income growth will fuel a significant rise in vehicles and increase emissions, especially in developing regions.

• While further emissions cuts in developed countries would be useful, such cuts will have less impact on global emissions over time.

• A transition to alternative energy will occur in developed countries and China, but there will not be enough incentive to fully transform the energy system to avert dangerous levels of climate change.

• While emissions from fossil fuels are sizeable, other GHG and land-use emissions are important. If policies to reduce them fail, a major opportunity to limit climate change may be missed.

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Global PopulationThe world’s population is projected to surge past 9 billion before 2050 and reach 10.1 billion by the end of the century.

Much of the growth will happen in developing regions (i.e. Middle East, Africa and Latin America).

(UN, 2011)

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World GDPLabor productivity will continue to grow and will be a source of growth in GDP.

Global GDP will grow 7.5 times between 2010 and 2100 (real GDP growth= 2.3%).

Per capita income will grow in all regions, but that growth will be more rapid in developing regions – while income will still remain well below that of developed countries.

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Vehicle Stock

As population grows, vehicle use increases – especially in other G20 nations (i.e. China and India) where population and incomes grow rapidly.

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Private Cars and Light Trucks

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Vehicle Stock by Region

Vehicle use in developed countries will grow slightly.

4 times more automobiles will be on the road in other G20 nations by 2050.

Vehicle use in the rest of the world is projected to rise moderately to more than double present-day levels by 2050.

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Land Use

To support the increasing global population, there will be a concurrent increasing need for cropland.

Although biofuel use has been associated with rising food prices, that connection seems negligible given that only about 1% of land is used for biofuel production.

If biofuels take a larger share of energy demand, the impacts could be much larger.

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Land Use by Major Group

Most land-to-agriculture, and other changes, will occur in the less-developed regions (i.e. Africa and Latin America have significant amounts of forest and grassland that could be used for crops).

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Global Energy Use

As population and incomes increase, energy needs and desires will increase – doubling energy use by 2050.

Most energy will come from the same sources currently utilized: coal, oil and natural gas.

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Energy Use by Major Group

Nuclear and hydropower will increase mostly in developing nations, but without mandate or policy changes those potential sources will not significantly increase.

Energy use overall stabilizes in developed countries, grows substantially in other G20 nations (≈500 EJ), and grows in the rest of the world to about what is used presently by the developed world.

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Energy Intensity by Region

While energy consumption will increase over time, energy use per unit of GDP generally decreases about 40% from 2010 to 2050. This reflects the improvement in energy-efficiency and rising energy prices caused by resource depletion and carbon policies.

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Global Greenhouse Gas EmissionsWith more power plants and industrial activity, more cars and trucks on the road, and more cropland and livestock, most sources of GHGs will grow.

Fossil fuel CO2 emissions will continue to constitute about 2/3 of total emissions

Due mostly to uncontrolled emissions from agriculture, energy production and other industrial activities.

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GHG Emissions by Major GroupEmissions in developed countries dip ≈10% in the near term (b/c of pledges), then remain constant after 2020.

Slow growth in emissions in other G20 nations, but unless targets are extended, emissions increase 95%

contributing ≈50% by 2100.

Due to population growth and the absence of climate policy, the rest of the world’s emissions will increase by ≈125%.

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Current Greenhouse Gas Concentrations

Looking at the GHG concentrations in our atmosphere, it shows that to meet the climate goals discussed broadly amongst nations, global emissions need to peak very soon. This chart shows that will not be the case.

The well-known seasonal cycle, due largely to strong effects of northern hemisphere vegetation on CO2, is smoothed to show the underlying trend.

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CO2 and GHG ConcentrationsLooking at future concentrations of GHGs, CO2 and other GHGs will rise substantially as emissions rise.

CO2: From 390 ppm to 816 ppm

CO2-eq: 474 ppm to 1226 ppm.

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Climate Sensitivity

To determine what this means for our climate, we developed 3 climate scenarios that capture the uncertainty in the Earth’s response to the cooling from aerosols and warming from greenhouse gases.

White = 50% probability White + Light Blue = 90% probability White + Light Blue + Medium Blue = 99% probability

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Temperature IncreaseUsing the previous 3 scenarios, the range of warming becomes:

2050: 1.7°-2.9°C Median: 2°C

2100: 3.5°-6.7°C Median: 4.3°

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Ocean Acidity As CO2 concentrations increase, oceans become more acidic (measured by seawater pH, lower pH= higher acidity).

Today: pH= 8-8.2 Oceans are absorbing about 1/3 of the CO2 emitted. 0.1 pH drop since pre-industrial times.

2100: drop of 0.3 pH Strongly affecting marine organisms. Corals are likely to cease to exist with 7.7pH.

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Preparing for Tomorrow Today• While the world has made progress, much more effort is needed to avoid dangerous

climate change.

• The Copenhagen pledges do not take us very far in the energy transformation ultimately needed to avoid the risk of dangerous warming.

• Even if policy efforts in developed countries are successful in holding emissions constant, the emission increases of other nations – growing and industrializing – will contribute to further increases in greenhouse gas concentrations and climate change.

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