Oct. 1 – It is “extremely likely,” with an index between 95 and 100%, that human-related activities, namely emissions of greenhouse gases, aerosol products, and changes in land use, are the main causes of the global warming observed since 1950. In addition, starting in 2035, the Mediterranean area will see a significant reduction in rain precipitations in both summer and winter. For tropical areas, it is estimated instead an increase in monsoon incidence, while the number of hurricanes is expected to remain stable. The various phenomena related to climate change are the topic of preventive and mitigation studies. This is the scenario that emerges from the report that defines the scientific basis of climate change, on which the member countries of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) have reached an agreement, during the first plenary session of the Working Group (WGI) held in Stockholm. More than 800 scientists from around the world contributed to the volume by analyzing 9,000 scientific publications from the past 7 years, covering observations on climate change, climate models and climate projections. ENEA (the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) actively participated in the elaboration of the report, contributing to chapter 14 – related to regional scale phenomena and their relevance for climate change. In addition, ENEA actively participates in the development and maintenance of regional databases for the analysis and evaluation of climate change impacts, the results of which will be published in the report of the second working group (WGII) of the IPCC. The final volume will be published in January 2014, a first draft and a summary for policy makers is already available at www.climatechange2013.org.
