Mitigation: Contribution of Working Group III to the Third Assessment
Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
 

Bert Metz, Ogunlade Davidson, Rob Swart, and Jiahua Pan
Cambridge University Press, 2001, 752 pp.
Price: $130 (hardback), $49.95 (paperback)
ISBN 0-521-80769-7 (hardback), 0-521-01502-2 (paperback)

Imagine that you stumble upon your old science book from high school. After dusting it off, you begin thumbing through the contents, stopping occasionally to reflect on things you have studied and long since forgotten. At the section on the carbon cycle you recall, albeit vaguely, the dynamics of carbon dioxide movement between the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, and its importance to the greenhouse effect, which helps to maintain the average surface temperature of the earth naturally.

Now you think of the current debates on climate change and global warming and controversial suggestions that human activities such as ownership of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) contribute to these phenomena. Several questions immediately come to mind: Are climate change and global warming real? Do the activities of humans contribute significantly to climate change and if so, how? What can be done or is being done to alleviate or reduce climate change?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 to address questions about greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The panel was charged with the responsibility to "assess the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of the risk of human mediated climate change." The IPCC has produced several reports including the Third Assessment Report (TAR), which forms the basis for this book.

This 752-page book contains a "Summary for Policymakers," a "Technical Summary," ten chapters, and appendices that include a glossary and a list of major IPCC reports. The book provides a comprehensive review and assessment of information on the benefits and costs of technological and biological options for climate change mitigation, barriers to their implementation, and policies, measures, and instruments to overcome these barriers. Although I have not read the previous IPCC reports, I was able to follow the discussions presented in the book because of the logical organization and background information contained in each of the chapters.

My advice to potential readers is to begin with the "Summary for Policymakers" before proceeding to the main chapters. The section presents the main points discussed in the chapters in a logical fashion that corresponds to and references each of the chapters.

The first section of the summary, "The Nature of the Mitigation Challenge," outlines why decision-making relevant to climate change mitigation is plagued with uncertainty and risk, and, therefore, may require broad policy changes. Mitigation efforts are seen to affect and be affected by broader socioeconomic priorities including those relating to development, equity, and sustainability. Chapter 1 focuses on these three related issues and the factors (such as the role of technology and uncertainty) involved in climate change policy analyses. Because of the complex nature of climate change and the uncertainty surrounding mitigation strategies, scenarios of climate change and the impact of mitigation activities have been developed to organize available information and to provide insights on how the future might unfold. Chapter 2 considers the results of 159 scenarios based on a wide range of driving forces (e.g., human activities and technology) of future emissions. The scenarios demonstrate that different social, economic, and technological developments can have a strong impact on emission trends even in the absence of explicit climate policy interventions.

In the summary section, "Options to Limit or Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Enhance Sinks," the focus is on the technologies for mitigating climate change. This discussion continues in chapters 3 and 4 where the technologies and practices, as well as the associated costs for reducing emissions in end-user sectors (e.g., buildings, transport, industry, agriculture, and waste) are highlighted. The authors present data to show that the transportation sector has the highest average annual growth in carbon emissions, whereas the agricultural sector contributes very little to total global emissions. Because of my background in agriculture, I found chapter 4 to be one of the most interesting. The focus of this chapter is on the agricultural end-user sector, land use, the potential of terrestrial and marine ecosystems as sequesters and sinks for carbon, and the possibility of using geo-engineering approaches to manage the Earth’s energy balance. An important point emphasized in the chapter is that the low economic costs of mitigation through the agroforestry sector must be balanced by the needs of a growing human population for food.

The summary section "The Costs and Ancillary Benefits of Mitigation Actions" does not follow the order of the chapter. This topic is developed in chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10, which focus on the estimation and assessment of costs and benefits of climate change, and how these are affected by key elements and assumptions, such as the definition of a baseline or the emission that would occur in the absence of climate change interventions.

The summary section "Ways and Means for Mitigation" pertains mainly to chapter 5, which discusses how the transfer of technologies can help to reduce emissions, although technical, economic, cultural, political, behavioral, institutional, and social barriers may hamper the process. Finally, this section touches briefly on the discussion presented in chapter 6, which examines the major types of policies and instruments (such as market-based, regulatory, or voluntary agreements) for mitigating emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The book is a compilation and assessment of the literature on research and policy issues related to climate change. The underlying premise is that many opportunities for mitigating climate change exist, and they revolve around reducing the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions and the level of activities that cause these emissions. I was impressed that each chapter contains some discussion of the role of developing countries in greenhouse gas emission and mitigating climate change because climate change often is debated only within the context of developed countries.

One possible drawback of the book is the extensive repetition of material within and among chapters, possibly because of the number of authors and contributors and the complexity of the information. Some readers may find this style annoying, but because of my rudimentary background in climate change issues, I found the repetition useful. Though some people may be put off by the size of the book, I can recommend it in good conscience. It is worth the price
(especially for the paperback version) and is sure to appeal to policy makers, scientists in many fields, and to graduate students as a primary reference on greenhouse gas emission and climate change mitigation.

Carlyle C. Brewster
202 Price Hall
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0319
American Entomologist
Vol. 49, No.1, Spring 2003