Key Points:Ports around the world are moving ahead of
government on climate change mitigation and adaptation
While there is no international consensus on what levels of
climate change might be defined as "dangerous", there is
widespread support for containing the rise in global temperature to
2°C above pre-industrial levels. But even with temperature
rises of less than 2°C, impacts can be significant, and beyond
2°C, as the IPCC notes, "the possibilities for adaptation
of society and ecosystems rapidly decline". And on a business
as usual path, there's some agreement that global temperature
levels will rise by just under 5°C by 2100.
Climate change projections from the Australian Bureau of
Meteorology include increased intensity of cyclones, an overall
increase in the intensity of extreme weather events, and sea-level
rise which threatens coastal regions and cities. It is possible
that by 2100 global sea-level rise may well exceed 1 metre.
