TY - JOUR A1 - Warszawski, Lila A1 - Kriegler, Elmar A1 - Lenton, Timothy M. A1 - Gaffney, Owen A1 - Jacob, Daniela A1 - Klingenfeld, Daniel A1 - Koide, Ryu A1 - Costa, María Máñez A1 - Messner, Dirk A1 - Nakicenovic, Nebojsa A1 - Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim A1 - Schlosser, Peter A1 - Takeuchi, Kazuhiko A1 - van der Leeuw, Sander A1 - Whiteman, Gail A1 - Rockström, Johan T1 - All options, not silver bullets, needed to limit global warming to 1.5 °C BT - a scenario appraisal JF - Environmental research letters N2 - Climate science provides strong evidence of the necessity of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. The IPCC 1.5 °C special report (SR1.5) presents 414 emissions scenarios modelled for the report, of which around 50 are classified as '1.5 °C scenarios', with no or low temperature overshoot. These emission scenarios differ in their reliance on individual mitigation levers, including reduction of global energy demand, decarbonisation of energy production, development of land-management systems, and the pace and scale of deploying carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. The reliance of 1.5 °C scenarios on these levers needs to be critically assessed in light of the potentials of the relevant technologies and roll-out plans. We use a set of five parameters to bundle and characterise the mitigation levers employed in the SR1.5 1.5 °C scenarios. For each of these levers, we draw on the literature to define 'medium' and 'high' upper bounds that delineate between their 'reasonable', 'challenging' and 'speculative' use by mid century. We do not find any 1.5 °C scenarios that stay within all medium upper bounds on the five mitigation levers. Scenarios most frequently 'over use' CDR with geological storage as a mitigation lever, whilst reductions of energy demand and carbon intensity of energy production are 'over used' less frequently. If we allow mitigation levers to be employed up to our high upper bounds, we are left with 22 of the SR1.5 1.5 °C scenarios with no or low overshoot. The scenarios that fulfil these criteria are characterised by greater coverage of the available mitigation levers than those scenarios that exceed at least one of the high upper bounds. When excluding the two scenarios that exceed the SR1.5 carbon budget for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, this subset of 1.5 °C scenarios shows a range of 15–22 Gt CO2 (16–22 Gt CO2 interquartile range) for emissions in 2030. For the year of reaching net zero CO2 emissions the range is 2039–2061 (2049–2057 interquartile range). KW - climate change KW - emissions scenarios KW - 1.5 ◦C KW - negative emissions Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfeec SN - 1748-9326 N1 - Corrigendum: 10.1088/1748-9326/acbf6a VL - 16 IS - 6 PB - IOP Publishing CY - Bristol ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Rahmstorf, Stefan A1 - Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim T1 - Der Klimawandel T3 - Schriftenreihe / Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung ; Band 10520 Y1 - 2020 SN - 978-3-7425-0520-0 PB - Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung CY - Bonn ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vinke, Kira A1 - Gabrysch, Sabine A1 - Paoletti, Emanuela A1 - Rockström, Johan A1 - Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim T1 - Corona and the climate BT - a comparison of two emergencies JF - Global sustainability N2 - Lessons from the corona crisis can help manage the even more daunting challenge of anthropogenic global warming. KW - adaptation and mitigation KW - ecology and biodiversity KW - human behaviour KW - natural resources (biological and non-biological) KW - policies KW - politics KW - and governance Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2020.20 SN - 2059-4798 VL - 3 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - Cambridge ER - TY - GEN A1 - Lenton, Timothy M. A1 - Rockstroem, Johan A1 - Gaffney, Owen A1 - Rahmstorf, Stefan A1 - Richardson, Katherine A1 - Steffen, Will A1 - Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim T1 - Climate tipping points - too risky to bet against : Comment T2 - Nature : the international weekly journal of science Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03595-0 SN - 0028-0836 SN - 1476-4687 VL - 575 IS - 7784 SP - 592 EP - 595 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Steffen, Will A1 - Röckstrom, Johan A1 - Richardson, Katherine A1 - Lenton, Timothy M. A1 - Folke, Carl A1 - Liverman, Diana A1 - Summerhayes, Colin P. A1 - Barnosky, Anthony D. A1 - Cornell, Sarah E. A1 - Crucifix, Michel A1 - Donges, Jonathan Friedemann A1 - Fetzer, Ingo A1 - Lade, Steven J. A1 - Scheffer, Marten A1 - Winkelmann, Ricarda A1 - Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim T1 - Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America N2 - We explore the risk that self-reinforcing feedbacks could push the Earth System toward a planetary threshold that, if crossed, could prevent stabilization of the climate at intermediate temperature rises and cause continued warming on a "Hothouse Earth" pathway even as human emissions are reduced. Crossing the threshold would lead to a much higher global average temperature than any interglacial in the past 1.2 million years and to sea levels significantly higher than at any time in the Holocene. We examine the evidence that such a threshold might exist and where it might be. If the threshold is crossed, the resulting trajectory would likely cause serious disruptions to ecosystems, society, and economies. Collective human action is required to steer the Earth System away from a potential threshold and stabilize it in a habitable interglacial-like state. Such action entails stewardship of the entire Earth System-biosphere, climate, and societies-and could include decarbonization of the global economy, enhancement of biosphere carbon sinks, behavioral changes, technological innovations, new governance arrangements, and transformed social values. KW - Earth System trajectories KW - climate change KW - Anthropocene KW - biosphere feedbacks KW - tipping elements Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1810141115 SN - 0027-8424 VL - 115 IS - 33 SP - 8252 EP - 8259 PB - National Acad. of Sciences CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ganopolski, A. A1 - Winkelmann, Ricarda A1 - Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim T1 - Critical insolation-CO2 relation for diagnosing past and future glacial inception JF - Nature : the international weekly journal of science N2 - The past rapid growth of Northern Hemisphere continental ice sheets, which terminated warm and stable climate periods, is generally attributed to reduced summer insolation in boreal latitudes(1-3). Yet such summer insolation is near to its minimum at present(4), and there are no signs of a new ice age(5). This challenges our understanding of the mechanisms driving glacial cycles and our ability to predict the next glacial inception(6). Here we propose a critical functional relationship between boreal summer insolation and global carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, which explains the beginning of the past eight glacial cycles and might anticipate future periods of glacial inception. Using an ensemble of simulations generated by an Earth system model of intermediate complexity constrained by palaeoclimatic data, we suggest that glacial inception was narrowly missed before the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The missed inception can be accounted for by the combined effect of relatively high late-Holocene CO2 concentrations and the low orbital eccentricity of the Earth(7). Additionally, our analysis suggests that even in the absence of human perturbations no substantial build-up of ice sheets would occur within the next several thousand years and that the current interglacial would probably last for another 50,000 years. However, moderate anthropogenic cumulative CO2 emissions of 1,000 to 1,500 gigatonnes of carbon will postpone the next glacial inception by at least 100,000 years(8,9). Our simulations demonstrate that under natural conditions alone the Earth system would be expected to remain in the present delicately balanced interglacial climate state, steering clear of both large-scale glaciation of the Northern Hemisphere and its complete deglaciation, for an unusually long time. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16494 SN - 0028-0836 SN - 1476-4687 VL - 529 SP - 200 EP - U159 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Levermann, Anders A1 - Petoukhov, Vladimir A1 - Schewe, Jacob A1 - Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim T1 - Abrupt monsoon transitions as seen in paleorecords can be explained by moisture-advection feedback T2 - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1603130113 SN - 0027-8424 VL - 113 SP - E2348 EP - E2349 PB - National Acad. of Sciences CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Frieler, Katja A1 - Levermann, Anders A1 - Elliott, J. A1 - Heinke, Jens A1 - Arneth, A. A1 - Bierkens, M. F. P. A1 - Ciais, Philippe A1 - Clark, D. B. A1 - Deryng, D. A1 - Doell, P. A1 - Falloon, P. A1 - Fekete, B. A1 - Folberth, Christian A1 - Friend, A. D. A1 - Gellhorn, C. A1 - Gosling, S. N. A1 - Haddeland, I. A1 - Khabarov, N. A1 - Lomas, M. A1 - Masaki, Y. A1 - Nishina, K. A1 - Neumann, K. A1 - Oki, T. A1 - Pavlick, R. A1 - Ruane, A. C. A1 - Schmid, E. A1 - Schmitz, C. A1 - Stacke, T. A1 - Stehfest, E. A1 - Tang, Q. A1 - Wisser, D. A1 - Huber, Veronika A1 - Piontek, Franziska A1 - Warszawski, Lila A1 - Schewe, Jacob A1 - Lotze-Campen, Hermann A1 - Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim T1 - A framework for the cross-sectoral integration of multi-model impact projections BT - land use decisions under climate impacts uncertainties JF - Earth system dynamics N2 - Climate change and its impacts already pose considerable challenges for societies that will further increase with global warming (IPCC, 2014a, b). Uncertainties of the climatic response to greenhouse gas emissions include the potential passing of large-scale tipping points (e.g. Lenton et al., 2008; Levermann et al., 2012; Schellnhuber, 2010) and changes in extreme meteorological events (Field et al., 2012) with complex impacts on societies (Hallegatte et al., 2013). Thus climate change mitigation is considered a necessary societal response for avoiding uncontrollable impacts (Conference of the Parties, 2010). On the other hand, large-scale climate change mitigation itself implies fundamental changes in, for example, the global energy system. The associated challenges come on top of others that derive from equally important ethical imperatives like the fulfilment of increasing food demand that may draw on the same resources. For example, ensuring food security for a growing population may require an expansion of cropland, thereby reducing natural carbon sinks or the area available for bio-energy production. So far, available studies addressing this problem have relied on individual impact models, ignoring uncertainty in crop model and biome model projections. Here, we propose a probabilistic decision framework that allows for an evaluation of agricultural management and mitigation options in a multi-impact-model setting. Based on simulations generated within the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP), we outline how cross-sectorally consistent multi-model impact simulations could be used to generate the information required for robust decision making. Using an illustrative future land use pattern, we discuss the trade-off between potential gains in crop production and associated losses in natural carbon sinks in the new multiple crop-and biome-model setting. In addition, crop and water model simulations are combined to explore irrigation increases as one possible measure of agricultural intensification that could limit the expansion of cropland required in response to climate change and growing food demand. This example shows that current impact model uncertainties pose an important challenge to long-term mitigation planning and must not be ignored in long-term strategic decision making. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-447-2015 SN - 2190-4979 SN - 2190-4987 VL - 6 IS - 2 SP - 447 EP - 460 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Donges, Jonathan Friedemann A1 - Donner, Reik Volker A1 - Trauth, Martin H. A1 - Marwan, Norbert A1 - Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim A1 - Kurths, Jürgen T1 - Nonlinear detection of paleoclimate-variability transitions possibly related to human evolution JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America N2 - Potential paleoclimatic driving mechanisms acting on human evolution present an open problem of cross-disciplinary scientific interest. The analysis of paleoclimate archives encoding the environmental variability in East Africa during the past 5 Ma has triggered an ongoing debate about possible candidate processes and evolutionary mechanisms. In this work, we apply a nonlinear statistical technique, recurrence network analysis, to three distinct marine records of terrigenous dust flux. Our method enables us to identify three epochs with transitions between qualitatively different types of environmental variability in North and East Africa during the (i) Middle Pliocene (3.35-3.15 Ma B. P.), (ii) Early Pleistocene (2.25-1.6 Ma B. P.), and (iii) Middle Pleistocene (1.1-0.7 Ma B. P.). A deeper examination of these transition periods reveals potential climatic drivers, including (i) large-scale changes in ocean currents due to a spatial shift of the Indonesian throughflow in combination with an intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation, (ii) a global reorganization of the atmospheric Walker circulation induced in the tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean, and (iii) shifts in the dominating temporal variability pattern of glacial activity during the Middle Pleistocene, respectively. A reexamination of the available fossil record demonstrates statistically significant coincidences between the detected transition periods and major steps in hominin evolution. This result suggests that the observed shifts between more regular and more erratic environmental variability may have acted as a trigger for rapid change in the development of humankind in Africa. KW - African climate KW - Plio-Pleistocene KW - climate-driven evolution KW - dynamical transitions KW - nonlinear time series analysis Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1117052108 SN - 0027-8424 VL - 108 IS - 51 SP - 20422 EP - 20427 PB - National Acad. of Sciences CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wu, Ye Wu A1 - Zhou, Changsong A1 - Xiao, Jinghua A1 - Kurths, Jürgen A1 - Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim T1 - Evidence for a bimodal distribution in human communication N2 - Interacting human activities underlie the patterns of many social, technological, and economic phenomena. Here we present clear empirical evidence from Short Message correspondence that observed human actions are the result of the interplay of three basic ingredients: Poisson initiation of tasks and decision making for task execution in individual humans as well as interaction among individuals. This interplay leads to new types of interevent time distribution, neither completely Poisson nor power-law, but a bimodal combination of them. We show that the events can be separated into independent bursts which are generated by frequent mutual interactions in short times following random initiations of communications in longer times by the individuals. We introduce a minimal model of two interacting priority queues incorporating the three basic ingredients which fits well the distributions using the parameters extracted from the empirical data. The model can also embrace a range of realistic social interacting systems such as e-mail and letter communications when taking the time scale of processing into account. Our findings provide insight into various human activities both at the individual and network level. Our analysis and modeling of bimodal activity in human communication from the viewpoint of the interplay between processes of different time scales is likely to shed light on bimodal phenomena in other complex systems, such as interevent times in earthquakes, rainfall, forest fire, and economic systems, etc. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03784371 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1013140107 SN - 0027-8424 ER -