Copenhagen Diagnosis

Learn more from the Center for Media and Democracy's research on climate change.

The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a report released in November 2009 with the aim of providing a summary of global warming science released in the three years since the release in early 2007 of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007 (AR4).

Key findings

The key findings of the report were that

• "Satellite and direct measurements now demonstrate that both the Greenland and Antarctic ice-sheets are losing mass and contributing to sea level rise at an increasing rate";

• "Arctic sea-ice has melted far beyond the expectations of climate models. For example, the area of summer sea-ice melt during 2007-2009 was about 40% greater than the average projection from the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report";

• "Sea level has risen more than 5 centimeters over the past 15 years, about 80% higher than IPCC projections from 2001. Accounting for ice-sheets and glaciers, global sea-level rise may exceed 1 meter by 2100, with a rise of up to 2 meters considered an upper limit by this time. This is much higher than previously projected by the IPCC. Furthermore, beyond 2100, sea level rise of several meters must be expected over the next few centuries"; and

• "In 2008 carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels were ~40% higher than those in 1990. Even if emissions do not grow beyond today’s levels, within just 20 years the world will have used up the allowable emissions to have a reasonable chance of limiting warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius."

Website

Website: http://www.copenhagendiagnosis.org/

Articles and resources

Articles and resources

• Global warming
• Lake Victoria Commonwealth Climate Change Action Plan

External articles

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