The Sustainability group met on 6 May and 20 May. Based on several articles, our 6 May session continued discussions on how best to achieve net zero carbon gasses emissions from landscapes, both urban and rural. We also considered whether disruptions and social disturbances, such as the war in the Ukraine, will create long-term impediments to meeting global emissions goals by 2050. At a local level, we considered the achievement of a local farmer at Warrenbayne who has been awarded carbon neutrality status under a Meat and Livestock Australia scheme. We also examined which sectors are the biggest carbon emitters in Australia and how these emissions have been tracking over time.
At out 20 May session we discussed the relatively new science that aims to determine how much human emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG) can be attributed to severe weather events and our future climate. Attribution science in this scenario makes extensive use of large-scale climate models called general circulation models that assess whether events are made more severe as a result of the presence of human generated GHG emissions. This is still a developing area of science and cannot be reliably used for all types of weather events. We also briefly considered the headline statements from the latest report from the Climate Mitigation working group of the Independent Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which confirmed that without immediate (by 2030) and deep cuts to global GHG emissions, keeping global warming within the 1.5c to 2.0c range is unlikely to be achieved.
John Lane
At out 20 May session we discussed the relatively new science that aims to determine how much human emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG) can be attributed to severe weather events and our future climate. Attribution science in this scenario makes extensive use of large-scale climate models called general circulation models that assess whether events are made more severe as a result of the presence of human generated GHG emissions. This is still a developing area of science and cannot be reliably used for all types of weather events. We also briefly considered the headline statements from the latest report from the Climate Mitigation working group of the Independent Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which confirmed that without immediate (by 2030) and deep cuts to global GHG emissions, keeping global warming within the 1.5c to 2.0c range is unlikely to be achieved.
John Lane
Editor's note - If you would like to find out more about the content covered in May, the session agendas and links to reading are included in the previous posts.
