Summer School on Global Sustainability-Lectures

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These are the outlines for the scheduled lectures.

Ottmar Edenhofer, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

Can dangerous Climate Change be avoided? Causes and Impacts of Climate Change
Why the climate is changing: the mechanics of global warming. Evidence from the past and recent projections: temperature, sea level rise, precipitation. Tipping points. Impacts for developed and developing countries. The link between energy and food prices.

The Economics of Atmospheric Stabilization
Greenhouse gas emissions: where are we currently, we are we heading, where should we be heading to avoid dangerous climate change? Fossil fuel resources, reserves, and the coal renaissance. The scale of the challenge: emission trajectories to avoid dangerous climate change, maybe. Energy system modeling: finding the right wedges. The role of biomass. Hybrid modeling. Mitigation costs: model comparison IMCP shows it does not cost the world to save the planet.

Towards a Global Contract on Climate Change
Regional mitigation costs – results from two recent model comparison exercises. International burden sharing: the role of the quota allocation rule and of tradable fossil fuel resources. The costs of delay and the gains of fast-movers. International climate policy: the Kyoto Protocol and the road to Copenhagen. The pillars of a global contract: carbon markets, technology, adaptation, reduced deforestation.

Matthew England, University of New South Wales

Climate Change - Overview, History, GHG's, Radiative Forcing
Climate Change - Observations (Atmosphere, Cryosphere, Oceans) and Paleoclimate
Climate Change - Models, Projections, Detection & Attribution

Arnulf Grubler, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Climate Change and Urbanization
Climate Change and Industrial Production
Climate Change: Rates of Change and Constraints for Adaptation and Mitigation Measures

Chuck Kutscher, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The Urgency of Climate Change and How to Address It With Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (the American Solar Energy Society study).
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP)

Dennis Meadows, University of New Hampshire

Obstacles to Effective Climate Policy
Although most national leaders profess a concern about climate change and a desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere keep going up. And they are going up in almost every nation, irrespective of whether it signed the Kyoto Accord. To explain this unfortunate fact, this session will describe four common misconceptions about climate change dynamics that are preventing effective response to the threats of climate change.

Fishbanks: A Strategic Game about Renewable Resource Use
In this session participants will work in small teams to manage fishing companies that decide on ways to deploy and build up their assets. The challenge is to develop strategies that sustain the resource while maximizing profits of the individual firms.

The Structural Foundations of Sustainable Resource Use
The concept of sustainability is profoundly different depending on whether it is applied to a renewable or to a nonrenewable resource. We will discuss those differences. This session will identify, reflect on, and apply the lessons from the Fishbanks session. It will also provide information on oil depletion, as an important example of nonrenewable resource use.