Is Leon Simons insinuating that there's no hope? This goes against the recent statement by Jim Skea:
IPCC elects Jim Skea as the new Chair
The truth is that there's no terrible truth.
The fact is that we are 40% into doubling of [CO2] since the industrial revolution. If we reach 560ppm of atm CO2, we will have an extra 4 W/m/m of forcing, according to the logarithm. We'll have to double [CO2] to 1120ppm to get another 4 W/m/m of forcing. 4 W/m/m is ~ 1.6% of solar energy input. The effect of clouds, and the uncertainty involved with their associated +ve and -ve feedback mechanisms, is much, much greater than the effect of doubling [CO2]. Clouds can reflect up to ~50 W/m/m and radiate up to ~ 30W/m/m back to earth's surface.
The noise of the chaotic system is much louder than the sound of additional CO2.
