Evaluation of global warming impacts for different levels of stabilization as a step toward determination of the long-term stabilization target

Abstract

In order to estimate the benefit attributable to alleviating global warming for a kind of cost-benefit analysis of global warming mitigation, global warming impacts were quantitatively evaluated for a pathway of unmitigated CO2 emissions and three pathways to stabilize the atmospheric CO2 concentration at different levels, keeping unchanged the assumed conditions on population and GDP growths, although the GDP losses which will be caused due to the warming mitigation for the three stabilization pathways are taken into account. The evaluation results show that global warming will reduce the world total number of deaths caused by thermal stress owing to the large decrease in the cold-related deaths; it will increase the water stress in some regions, while it will decrease the stress in other regions; reductions in CO2 emissions will decrease the probability of THC collapse and terrestrial biodiversity loss; and it will enhance an increase in the wheat production potential. © Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2009.