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Fundamentals of climate change physics and how they imply the Paris climate goals The physical science basis underpins all of climate change science and societal implications, including the impacts of global warming and related natural and socio-economic changes. The latter include critical threats such as losses and damages, the need for adapting to unavoidable changes already induced, and the need for mitigating the main causes such as greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit against catastrophic global climate risks. In this talk I will first highlight fundamentals of physics that are backing climate physics in general, and discuss the physics of anthropogenic climate change in particular. This will help answering questions how greenhouse gases and other influences evolve and drive radiative forcing, Earth's energy imbalance and climate system responses, and how much emission budget remains for avoiding undue climate risks, in accord with the Paris climate goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 °C with a target of 1.5 °C. Building on these fundamentals, and accepting physical climate change realities together with basic societal values of responsibility and care, I will then address the implications that arise: the inevitable need for transforming to a low carbon, climate robust and sustainably living society able to reach the Paris goals, and the profound real-world challenges but also opportunities ahead for succeeding with the formidable task to indeed reach those goals. |