New CSSR Report released Climate Science Special Report 2017 sees human activity as dominant cause On November 3, 2017, Thirteen (13) federal agencies, part of the quadrennial National Climate Assessment, finally released the new Climate Science Special Report
(CSSR). The EIJ had reported previously about its leaked draft version in 08-2017. The new CSSR report's most remarkable findings are: 1) The period between 1901-2016 saw a temperature increase of 1.8°F (1.0°C) which is by now the warmest in the history of modern civilization. 2) Human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. 3) It is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. 4) Global average sea levels are expected to continue to rise by 1-4 feet (0.3-1.2m) by 2100. A rise of as much as 8 feet (2.4m) by 2100 cannot be ruled out. Worth mentioning is also that, despite these findings contradict the position of President Trump's government on climate change to a large extent, the White House did neither interfere to stop in the publication process - which it was legally able to do. Nor did it demand any changes to the report beforehand. Trump referred to climate change often as a "hoax" before his election and withdrew - as we reported - one of his first action from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change when he was elected President. Nevertheless, there is still hope that we will see a mindshift in current US government's policy through the CSSR report. The recently held Climate Protection Summit of the United Nationas Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany and the dealing of the US delegation, however, leaves doubts that it did. |  Image: © GlobalChange.gov |
