AdaptNet for 26 February 2008
- Climate Threat and Urban Response – Australian Cities
- How Much Renewable Energy Can We Have in the Future?
- Climate of Fear about Our Future Climate
- Counting the Cost of Climate Change – EEA Report
- New Development in China’s Climate Change Policy
- Bridging the Gap Conference – Slovenia, Portorož
1. Climate Threat and Urban Response – Australian Cities
The paper considers ‘climate change’ and ‘energy insecurity’ as real ecological threats to the stability and sustainability of Australia’s urban system. It seeks to intervene in the debate that transfixes, and perhaps immobilises, Australian urbanism: the sustainability of the suburban form in which most Australians live.
The Endangered State of Australian Cities: Climate Threat and Urban Response, Brendan Gleeson, Issues Paper 8, Urban Research Program, Griffith University, Brisbane, November 2007 [PDF]
2. How Much Renewable Energy Can We Have in the Future?
Scenarios are an important tool for dealing with complexity and uncertainty about the future. The paper reviews and synthesizes the results of published global energy scenarios to 2030 and 2050 for the world, Europe, and some selected countries. It focuses on the future shares of renewable energy shown in scenarios and policy targets.
Renewable Energy Futures: Targets, Scenarios, and Pathways, Eric Martinot et al., Annual Review of Environment and Resources*, vol. 32, 2007 [PDF]
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3. Climate of Fear about Our Future Climate
The paper suggests that to understand the present post-modern anxiety about climate change we need a deeper cultural and historical reading of climate and its meaning for human society than is usually offered by scientific assessments such as the IPCC. It demonstrates ways in which our reading of climate and climate change has been, and continues to be, culturally conditioned and historically situated.
The Conquering of Climate: Discourses of Fear and Their Dissolution (in press), Mike Hulme, Submitted to The Geographical Journal, November 2007 [PDF]
4. Counting the Cost of Climate Change – EEA Report
This report reviews, analyses and discusses the methodological issues regarding cost of inaction and cost of adaptation to climate change modelling. It concludes that: while the economic effects are still uncertain, the Mediterranean and south-eastern Europe will be most adversely affected; and that adaptation has an important role in reducing economic costs.
Climate Change: The Cost of Inaction and the Cost of Adaptation, EEA Technical Report No. 13/2007, European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, December 2007 [PDF]
5. New Development in China’s Climate Change Policy
Climate change is a common challenge faced by the entire world and China is a key country in the international climate regime. The paper investigates the main actors involved in China’s climate change policy making. It discusses recent development in China’s climate change policy.
New Development in China’s Climate Change Policy, Yang Zhang and Yongnian Zheng, University of New South Wales Faculty of Law Research Series – Paper-73, Australia, December 2007 [PDF]
6. Bridging the Gap Conference – Slovenia, Portorož
The 4th Bridging the Gap Conference will take place in Slovenia, Portorož from 14-16 May, 2008. The event will focus on five themes, including one on adaptation to climate change. Participants willing to contribute poster presentation may submit abstracts (maximum length 500 words) by 1st March 2008.
4th Bridging the Gap Conference: Responding to Environmental Change – from Words to Deeds, Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, Slovenia, Portorož, May 14-16, 2008
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AdaptNet is a free weekly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Working Group in partnership with the Australian Centre for Science, Innovation and Society at Melbourne University, Australia.
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For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua.