Q&A: Seven Questions about Climate Change

• Author: Rabah Arezki - Akito Matsumoto
• Pages: 1-5

IMF

Volume 16, Number 4 December 2015

www.imf.org/researchbulletin

B U L L E T I N

Seven Questions about

Climate Change1

Rabah Arezki and Akito Matsumoto

Climate change is at the top of the agenda of

policymakers as they gather in Paris for the

United Nations Climate Change Conference,

COP21. Climate change is a threat to the very

survival of humanity. Notwithstanding the

severity of the threat, actions to halt climate

change have been scant and uneven across countries. This Q&A article provides

brief answers to seven questions about climate change, its consequences, and the

coordination for developing mitigation strategies.

Question 1. What is climate change?

Climate change refers to changes i n the patterns of the overall climate of t he Earth.

It can refer to changes in the Ea rth’s average temperature and precipitation

patterns. Among them, t he gradual increase in the average temperatu re of

the Eart h’s atmosphere and its oceans is oen referred to as global war ming

(see Figure 1), and the potential causes and consequences f rom global warming

have been the main focus of ma ny discussions.

Some causes of climate change a re natural. ese include changes in

the Eart h’s orbit and in the amount of energy comi ng from the sun.

Volcanic eruptions are also natura l causes of climate change. ere is,

however, a consensus among scientists that recent global wa rming cannot

be explai ned by nature alone.

1 We are grateful to Mau ry Obstfeld for insightf ul comments and suggest ions.

In This Issue

1 Q&A: Seven Questions

about Climate Change

6 Winning the Oil Lottery:

The Impact of Natural

Resource Extraction

on Growth

9 Malaysia: Achieving

High-Income Status

through Resilience and

Inclusive Growth

14 IMF Working Papers

17 Recommended Readings

from the IMF Bookstore

18 IMF Economic Review

18 Conference Call

for Papers

19 Staff Discussion Notes

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Q&A

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Annual Mean

5-year Running Mean

Figure 1. Global Land-Ocean Temperature Index

Temperature Anomaly (Celsius)

Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Institute for Space Studies.