Closing the loop between mitigation, impacts and adaptation

Abstract

In its Fourth Assessment (2007) the IPCC was unable to address successfully the single most important policy question about confronting climate change: "What combinations of emissions reduction and adaptation can best reduce the impacts of climate change?"It is a hugely important question because it requires knowledge that is needed to underpin the agreement being sought at the UNFCCC summit this December (2009) in Copenhagen.Its omission stems from two things: (a) failure to frame the question that would help synthesise current knowledge, and (b) lack of knowledge itself on the connections between mitigation, impacts and adaptation.The first failing is easier to remedy than the second.