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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 5, NUMBER 1, JANUARY 1992

NEWS...

Item #d92jan101

CO₂ Emissions Drop: Researchers at the Worldwatch Institute find that world emissions of CO₂ have decreased in the last two years, and expect the decline to continue into 1992. Factors responsible include energy efficiency measures in developing countries, the U.S. recession, and disruption of industrial activity in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Emissions for 1990 are documented in Worldwatch's State of the World 1992 (see Reports, this GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST issue--Jan. 1992).

Item #d92jan102

Canadian Reports: Environment Canada released two major reports in December, one a background survey of atmospheric change and implications for Canada, the other a summary of current understanding of impacts of climate change on Canada. (See Reports, this GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST issue--Jan. 1992.)

Item #d92jan103

Costs of Controlling CO₂: A new study prepared for the American Petroleum Institute compares several recent energy analyses and concludes that the costs of reducing CO₂ emissions are high, while economic benefits are uncertain, distant and small. (See Reports, this GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST issue--Jan. 1992.) An article in Intl. Environ. Rptr. (pp. 688-689, Dec. 18, 1991) includes comments on the study and the models examined, by Alan Miller of the University of Maryland Center for Global Climate Change.

Item #d92jan104

Singer-Winston Survey: S. Fred Singer, former director of the National Weather Satellite Service, and Jay S. Winston, former director of the Weather Service's Climate Analysis Center, recently arranged a survey of scientists involved with the IPCC Scientific Assessment of Climate Change, because some scientific contributors to the report disagreed with the conclusions of its widely distributed nontechnical summary. Singer and Winston conclude from the survey results that the summary greatly exaggerates the degree of consensus among scientists concerning the likelihood and unfavorable consequences of climate change. (See Reports, this GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST issue--Jan. 1992.)

Item #d92jan105

VOC Agreement: Nineteen European nations, the U.S. and Canada have agreed to control emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), precursors to regional ozone and smog which also contribute to rising levels of tropospheric ozone. The treaty is the third under the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe, following those on oxides of sulfur and nitrogen. See New Scientist, p. 15, Nov. 30, 1991; Intl. Environ. Rptr., pp. 618-619, Nov. 20.

Item #d92jan106

New Publication: Energy, Economics and Climate Change began monthly publication in October 1991, with detailed reviews and interpretations of the latest national and international policy responses to climate change, and implications for the energy industry. The first issue (16 pp.) includes articles on revisions to the Manne-Richels model, the Stanford University Energy Modeling Forum, International Energy Agency activities, and estimating costs of reforestation as a way to offset CO₂ emissions. Contact Cutter Info. Corp., 37 Broadway, Arlington MA 02174 (617-648-8700); $547 ($647 outside N. America).

Item #d92jan107

"UN Fears Pollution Curbs Could Raise Temperatures," F. Pearce, New Scientist, p. 5, Jan. 4, 1992. A United Nations IPCC report to be published in February concludes that acid pollution in the form of sulfate particles is probably shielding Europe and North America from global warming. The IPCC climate modeling group agreed in November to include this finding in its new report, to be approved at a meeting in Beijing in January.