Adaptation and Risk Management Focus of Climate Change Seminar

On Thursday, May 29, Governor Brown’s office and Stanford University, Earth Innovation Institute, and UC Berkeley hosted scientists involved in the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II in a panel discussion of the IPCC’s recent report. The report entitled Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability included a "Summary for Policymakers (SPM)", focusing on the impacts and risks related to climate change.  

The panelists, all of whom were part of the Working Group effort contributing to the report, sought to provide policymakers with an overview of the report findings, referencing climate change events observed in California.  They also emphasized the growing need to implement adaptation strategies rather than continuing to focus solely on mitigation efforts.  The issues discussed singled out climate events for which California is particularly at risk namely water, fire, agriculture, and ecosystems. 

Panelists uniformly agreed California was already seeing the impacts of climate change, and the debate was no longer about projections of potential harm but about observation and measurement of the impact of climate change on identified sectors.

Under AB 32 and the cap-and-trade program, current state goals are overwhelmingly aimed at mitigation by requiring reduction of greenhouse gases from the covered sectors.  One of the recommendations to policymakers is to take into account heterogenic considerations in determining the impacts of climate change on the state and how best to respond.  The SPM apparently argues against the one-size-fits-all approach of AB 32 in favor of a more tailored response through the application of risk-management strategies and smart adaptation. 

John Wayant, of Stanford University, and a member of the Air Resources Board’s Economic and Technology Advancement Advisory Committee (ETAAC), noted that flexible policies tended to be the best and was supportive of market-based solutions.  According to Wayant, market-based policies were the most workable due to their flexibility in dealing with the uncertainties due to climate impacts as they arise.  In addressing climate change and moving from mitigation to adaptation, Wayant urged policymakers to "be patient" and not "create a train wreck in order to solve a problem."

Noting that the effects and impacts of climate change will manifest itself differently in northern California compared to southern California, the panel uniformly supported ongoing research and suggested that policymakers should support increased monitoring as one of the paths toward implementing adaptation based on risk-management.

This seminar suggests that the Governor’s Office is intent on placing more emphasis on adaptation and risk-management in its climate policy goals going forward.