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Climate Change Science and Policy—A Guided Tour across the Space of Attitudes and Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz

    (Meteorology Lab., Department of Construction and Geoengineering, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Poznan University of Life Sciences, 60637 Poznan, Poland)

  • Adam Choryński

    (Meteorology Lab., Department of Construction and Geoengineering, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Poznan University of Life Sciences, 60637 Poznan, Poland)

  • Janusz Olejnik

    (Meteorology Lab., Department of Construction and Geoengineering, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Poznan University of Life Sciences, 60637 Poznan, Poland)

  • Hans J. Schellnhuber

    (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 14412 Potsdam, Germany)

  • Marek Urbaniak

    (Meteorology Lab., Department of Construction and Geoengineering, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Poznan University of Life Sciences, 60637 Poznan, Poland)

  • Klaudia Ziemblińska

    (Meteorology Lab., Department of Construction and Geoengineering, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Poznan University of Life Sciences, 60637 Poznan, Poland)

Abstract

The ongoing debate on global climate change has polarized societies since ever. The attitude of an individual towards its anthropogenic nature as well as the need and extent to which human beings should mitigate climate warming can result from a number of factors. Also, since the consequences of such alteration in global climate have no borders and became much more severe in the last decades, it is worth it to shed some more light on a current state of an interplay between scientific findings and climate policies. In this paper, we examine a low-dimensional space of possible attitudes toward climate change, its impact, attribution, and mitigation. Insights into those attitudes and evidence-based interpretations are offered. We review a range of inconvenient truths and convenient untruths, respectively, related to fundamental climate-change issues and derive a systematic taxonomy of climate-change skepticism. In addition, the media track related to climate change is reconstructed by examining a range of cover stories of important magazines and the development of those stories with global warming. In a second major step, we span a low-dimensional space of outcomes of the combined climate science-policy system, where each of the sub-systems may either succeed or fail. We conclude that the most probable outcome from today’s perspective is still the same as it was 12 years ago: a tragic triumph , i.e., the success of climate science and the simultaneous failure of climate policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz & Adam Choryński & Janusz Olejnik & Hans J. Schellnhuber & Marek Urbaniak & Klaudia Ziemblińska, 2023. "Climate Change Science and Policy—A Guided Tour across the Space of Attitudes and Outcomes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:5411-:d:1101017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz & Janusz Olejnik & Marek Urbaniak & Klaudia Ziemblińska, 2023. "Storing Carbon in Forest Biomass and Wood Products in Poland—Energy and Climate Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-18, August.

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