Climate change: State of the science and implications for policy

Congressional Testimony
Climate change: State of the science and implications for policy
Prinn, R.G. (1998)
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Countdown to Kyoto, Part 1: The Science of a Global Climate Change Agreement, No. 45, Vol. I

Abstract/Summary:

Prof. Prinn, co-director of the MIT Global Change Joint Program, provides a brief overview of the definition of climate, the reality of the greenhouse effect, and how reliable the forecasts of future climate are. He then discusses why the detection of the human influence on climate is so difficult, and addresses certain areas of the scientific research especially important for informing policymaking. Finally, he argues that because the science is both uncertain and evolving, scientists should be in much closer contact with the policy development process than they are at present.

(Hearing summary)

Citation:

Prinn, R.G. (1998): Climate change: State of the science and implications for policy. U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Countdown to Kyoto, Part 1: The Science of a Global Climate Change Agreement, No. 45, Vol. I (http://globalchange.mit.edu/publication/13749)
  • Congressional Testimony
Climate change: State of the science and implications for policy

Prinn, R.G.

Countdown to Kyoto, Part 1: The Science of a Global Climate Change Agreement, No. 45, Vol. I

Abstract/Summary: 

Prof. Prinn, co-director of the MIT Global Change Joint Program, provides a brief overview of the definition of climate, the reality of the greenhouse effect, and how reliable the forecasts of future climate are. He then discusses why the detection of the human influence on climate is so difficult, and addresses certain areas of the scientific research especially important for informing policymaking. Finally, he argues that because the science is both uncertain and evolving, scientists should be in much closer contact with the policy development process than they are at present.

(Hearing summary)