BSR released a report which includes key findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) concludes that climate change is unequivocal, and that human activities, particularly emissions of carbon dioxide, are very likely to be the dominant cause. Changes are observed in all geographical regions: the atmosphere and oceans are warming, the extent and volume of snow and ice are diminishing, sea levels are rising and weather patterns are changing.
Impact of past emissions
Even if emissions are stopped immediately, temperatures will remain elevated for centuries due to the effect of greenhouse gases from past human emissions already present in the atmosphere. Limiting temperature rise will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.
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Impacts of Climate Change
Climate change impacts will vary between transport modes and their associated infrastructure, with impacts also varying widely between and within regions. Future changes in freight and passenger traffic may reflect the relative sensitivity of different transport modes to extreme weather events and other climate change impacts. For business, this implies a need to assess supply-chain risk and build redundancy and resilience into logistics networks to account for a higher likelihood of disruption.
Impacts of Climate Change on Shipping
More frequent droughts and floods may force businesses to use smaller vessels for inland shipping, for example along the Rhine in Germany or across the Great Lakes in North America, which will raise shipping costs. Some inland waterways are projected to be useable for fewer days each year because of more intermittent water availability.
On the ocean, a projected increase in storms in some regions could raise the cost of shipping by forcing ships to take longer routes that are less storm-prone, and may increase maintenance of ships and ports. More frequent delays and cancellations of ferries could result from extreme weather events. However, the Arctic Ocean is projected to become progressively more accessible to shipping in summer as sea-ice extent decreases, with a virtually ice-free ocean likely by mid-century. This will allow routine use of the Northwest Passage, the Northern Sea Route and other routes, and increase maritime access to coasts in northern Canada, Alaska (the United States), Russia and Greenland. However, the increase in shipping through these sensitive ecosystems could lead to an increase in local environmental and climate change impacts.
Policy intervention
Although the majority of policies will focus on reducing CO2 emissions, transport also contributes to climate change in other ways. Mitigating the climate impact of transport therefore has a wider meaning than just reducing CO2 emissions. Black carbon (soot) from diesel and heavy oil burning, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, methane, fluorinated gases (F-gases) and aerosols all have warming or cooling effects. Policies aimed at reducing air pollution can either lead to a net increase in warming (for example by reducing sulphate aerosols) or a net cooling (for example by reducing black carbon). Black carbon emissions from Arctic shipping are a particular concern as soot deposits on ice and snow can increase local warming. There is strong evidence that reducing black carbon emissions could provide an important short- term strategy to mitigate atmospheric concentrations of pollutants that contribute to global warming.
Source and Image Credit: BSR
For more information please read the report by clicking below:
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