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Climate change is a pressing problem and substantial reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions that cause it are necessary to avert the worst impacts predicted. The UK has targeted an 80% reduction from 1990 emissions levels by 2050. This thesis investigates how to promote behavioural changes that will reduce emissions associated with individuals’ lifestyles, which comprise a significant proportion of the UK total. The thesis begins by appraising whether and how climate change communications, specifically films, can succeed in changing attitudes and behaviour. The impacts on viewers of the film The Age of Stupid were assessed using a fourstage panel survey. Increased concern, motivation to act, and sense of agency felt immediately after seeing the film did not persist, but respondents reported some behavioural changes. The longer-term follow-up suggests that behavioural intentions do not necessarily translate into action, but also revealed issues concerning the reliability of participants’ causal attributions of their behaviour. These and other challenges of conducting longitudinal studies of behavioural change related to climate change communications are discussed. The thesis then uses a model of behavioural change transposed from health psychology to analyse the processes of change employed or depicted by four climate change films, in order to identify more generally the strengths and limitations of films as means to promote mitigation action, and to demonstrate the potential utility of the model in the field of proenvironmental behaviour change. The issue is then considered from the opposite angle, with an examination of what has motivated individuals who have already adopted lower-carbon lifestyles. Qualitative research reveals that protecting ‘the environment’ per se is not the primary value stimulating most interviewees’ action; typically they were more concerned about the impacts of climate change on people in developing countries. Although analysis of a survey instrument showed that biospheric values are important to the participants, they tended to score altruistic values significantly higher. Thus it may not be necessary to promote biospheric values to encourage lower-carbon lifestyles. The final element of the work involved researching the opinions of members of Carbon Rationing Action Groups, seeking to understand what can be learned from their experiences of living with a carbon allowance, and the implications that the findings may have for potential government policies, especially personal carbon trading. The thesis concludes that, given the scale of action required, the difficulties individuals face when considering whether and how to adopt lower-carbon behaviours, and the limited impact of initiatives such as Carbon Rationing Action Groups and The Age of Stupid beyond a relatively small circle of people who tend to exhibit particular traits (such as a preference for frugality), significant UK emissions reductions will necessitate far-reaching legislation that will impact on everyday practices and behaviour.

The global climate is changing. Compared with many parts of the world, especially North America and Europe, relatively little is known about how climate has changed over the Arabian Peninsula (AP) in recent decades. Quantifying the climate change in the mean and extreme temperature and precipitation variables and understanding the mechanisms behind these changes are essential for establishing adequate and proper adaptation strategies to ensure sustainability, reduce vulnerability and safeguard livelihoods. Four papers in this thesis contribute to that objective, utilising a combination of in situ high quality meteorological station data and high resolution regional climate model data. The first paper quantifies the trends in monthly, seasonal and annual mean, maximum, minimum temperatures and Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR) variables and total precipitation. The station dataseries are tested for quality control and homogeneity. A non-parametric test is used to calculate the trends and evaluate the trend significance for individual stations, subregions (Non-monsoonal and Monsoonal) and for the whole area average. There is a high significant increase in the temperature variables especially the minimum temperature (during 1980-2008 and over all the AP the trend of annual minimum temperature is 0.55 °C decade^-1 while the annual maximum temperature trend is 0.32 °C decade^-1) which leads to significant decrease in the DTR. The precipitation is decline but insignificantly. The non-monsoonal region located north of 20° N has experienced higher rates of warming than the monsoonal region. Spring and summer seasons witness the highest significant warming. The interannual variability of the AP temperature and precipitation shows marked negative association after 1998. The second paper utilises the AP daily data of maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation to calculate climate extremes indices, evaluate the regional/subregional trends of these indices and assess the trend significance. There is a clear significant decrease of cold temperature extremes and a significant increase in the warm temperature extremes. The increase in the nighttime temperature extremes is remarkable in the last two decades (the rate of increase of the warm night frequency is 3.6% decade^-1 during 1986-2008). The spatial trend patterns reveal a latitudinal distinction whereby the northern AP experiences an increase associated with day-time extremes while for the night-time extremes the trends are higher and significant for the southern region. Precipitation indices trends are weak and although they show general decrease in the last two decades they are insignificant. The changes in the Dew Point (Td) and the Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP) indicate possible changes in the regional dynamics. The third paper uses the Providing Regional Climates for Impact Studies (PRECIS) regional climate model forced by the European Centre for ERA-Interim re-analysis (ERA-Interim) to simulate the AP climate during 1990-2008. PRECIS simulation is validated based on climate mean and trends. The model simulation captures the mean climatic conditions and patterns, the increasing temperature tendency, as well as the decreasing precipitation observed in the last two decades. However, PRECIS has cold bias especially with the minimum temperature and it overestimates the precipitation over the high lands or regions close to them over the southwestern mountains and underestimates the precipitation over the southeastern mountains. The model products provide indications on the reasons behind the highest daytime spring warming (decrease of specific humidity) and significant nighttime summer warming (increase of Sea Surface Temperature (SST)). The model fails to simulate the recent increase of the nighttime temperature parameters over AP. The final paper addresses the possible local atmospheric circulations, SST and remote modes of variability associated with the recent AP climate extreme changes. Using the PRECIS simulation, composite difference maps for some surface, upper atmospheric circulation maps and SSTs between two period 1990-1997 and 1998-2008 have been calculated. The composite difference maps reveal significant local changes in these atmospheric and oceanic variables which possibly partly explain the recent regional warming and drying conditions during the last two decades. In addition, relationships of the regional/subregional extremes indices timeseries have been calculated with some known remote modes of variability. There is a clear, strong relation of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) with the AP climate in all the seasons except in winter. The North Atlantic Caspian Sea Pattern (NCP) influences the regional climate in winter especially the temperature variables.

Although climate change is a global problem, specific mitigation measures are frequently applied on regional or national scales only. This is the case in particular for measures to reduce the emissions of land-based transport, which is largely characterized by regional or national systems with independent infrastructure, organization, and regulation. The climate perturbations caused by regional transport emissions are small compared to those resulting from global emissions. Consequently, they can be smaller than the detection limits in global three-dimensional chemistry-climate model simulations, hampering the evaluation of the climate benefit of mitigation strategies. Hence, we developed a new approach to solve this problem. The approach is based on a combination of a detailed three-dimensional global chemistry-climate model system, aerosol-climate response functions, and a zero-dimensional climate response model. For demonstration purposes, the approach was applied to results from a transport and emission modeling suite, which was designed to quantify the present-day and possible future transport activities in Germany and the resulting emissions. The results show that, in a baseline scenario, German transport emissions result in an increase in global mean surface temperature of the order of 0.01 K during the 21st century. This effect is dominated by the CO2 emissions, in contrast to the impact of global transport emissions, where non-CO2 species make a larger relative contribution to transport-induced climate change than in the case of German emissions. Our new approach is ready for operational use to evaluate the climate benefit of mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of transport emissions.

Recent academic work proposes that mainstream video games, which are not specifically designed for reflection or persuasion, can have a potential to implicitly encourage reflection on environmental issues and ecology. Some game developers have also echoed this view. Much of this work either does not include a player perspective in the reflection triggering, or mentions its possible inclusion in future studies. The aim of this thesis is to investigate this proposed potential of mainstream video games through the eyes of those who are to receive the environmental message of such videogames - the players. The present thesis builds on previous research in this area as well as on studies of the process of reflection in video games. In-depth interviews with 11 participants about 5 different mainstream videogames were conducted and their content and structure analysed for common themes. The selected videogames were: Red Dead Redemption II, Death Stranding, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Frostpunk and Cities: Skylines. The results point towards a high variability in the player's responses and attitudes towards the proposed climate reflection triggers in these video games. In addition, the analysis highlighted those factors which contribute to or interfere with the process of reflection, which is often accompanied by the...

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The Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism (‘CDM’) allows developed countries to invest in developing country projects, to effect both greenhouse gas emission reductions and sustainable development, in exchange for carbon credits. This study considers how Brazilian CDM projects currently promote or inhibit sustainable development in Brazil. Brazil originally proposed the CDM-type framework, led the developing countries in the multilateral negotiations, and now ranks third globally for CDM project investment. The critical legal geography literature and corresponding hybrid analytical framework is applied to analyse the overlapping and multi-layered legal space of CDM projects in the context of an uneven physical and human geography. It applies legal and qualitative social research methods including textual analysis of English and Portuguese-language documents, onsite visits, semi-structured and unstructured interviews, focus groups and case studies of twelve Brazilian CDM projects of varying project types to consider: • The environmental policymaking processes underlying Brazil’s position in the international climate negotiations and how that position impacts Brazil’s assessment of proposed CDM projects’ sustainable development benefits; • The role of the Brazilian Proposal from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol negotiations in Brazil’s ongoing assessment of proposed CDM projects; • Brazil’s enunciated sustainable development criteria for CDM projects against the criteria actually applied; • The role of state environmental licensing authorities and nonstate actors in defining appropriate sustainable development benefits for CDM projects; and • The resulting (neo-)regulatory framework for Brazilian CDM projects’ sustainable development benefits in the context of legal pluralism. This dissertation concludes that Brazil’s CDM-specific domestic regulation is driven by the negotiating positions Brazil has taken in the international climate negotiations, most notably the 1997 Brazilian Proposal. As a result, Brazilian government-based CDM-specific regulation only considers the CDM projects’ Greenhouse Gas emission reductions benefits. Brazilian approval of domestic CDM projects also entails confirmation of administrative compliance with certain non-CDM specific regulatory frameworks, but institutional capacity issues within state and local regulatory agencies tend to undermine the effectiveness of assessing administrative compliance rather than legal and regulatory compliance. This government based regulatory framework is augmented by non-state actors, who have a neo-regulatory impact on corporate activity through demands for sustainable development benefits, giving rise to corporate sustainability programmes. There is scope for this neo-regulatory impact to extend to addressing sustainable development issues more broadly through NGO engagement with local and state environmental licensing authorities in the determination of appropriate environmental licensing conditions. In each case, the achievement of substantial sustainable development benefits is impeded by the lack of a mature multi-stakeholder dialogue involving a local government and civil society. As a result, corporate actors dominate consideration of appropriate sustainable development benefits.

A policy mechanism known as REDD+ (‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, and enhancing forest carbon stocks and conservation’) is designed to contribute to climate change mitigation efforts and simultaneously support developing countries’ national development agendas. This is effected by providing REDD+ host countries with financial incentives to produce measurable reductions in carbon emissions beyond what would have occurred without REDD+. Indonesia is a key target of the REDD+ mechanism for several reasons, eg: (i) its forests support 10% of the world's remaining tropical rain forests and represent the fourth largest forest carbon stock globally, (ii) 80% of its GHG emissions result from deforestation and forest degradation, and (iii) it has the potential to reduce up to 120 million tons of CO2 per year. Consequently, to date Indonesia has received donor’s commitments of nearly US$2 billion for REDD+ development. Given this profile, Indonesia’s success in implementing REDD+ can contribute significantly to the efficacy of REDD+ globally. However, achieving this potential is undermined by a set of long-standing problems inherent within Indonesia’s forest institutions, including issues of corruption, coordination, uncertainty in the forests’ legal system, capacity to manage forests at multiple levels of government, and the use of forest concessions to consolidate political power. This thesis asks the primary research question: <b>“How do REDD+ institutions effect governance reform within Indonesia’s existing national and sub-national forest institutions?”</b> 'Institutionalism', in particular the concept of 'institutional interplay' is the main conceptual framework deployed and grounded in the context of the vertical interplay between the internationally-formulated REDD+ mechanism and Indonesia's forest institutions. Guided by the themes that emerged from the data collected, this research explored and expanded certain analytical approaches within the perspectives of institutionalism and governance, namely ‘historical institutionalism’, ‘clientelism’, 'critical juncture', ‘policy networks’ and ‘social learning’. This thesis adopted the ‘four paper route’ and employed mixed methods of data collection (ie interview, shadowing, and policy document review). It found that during the process of institutional interplay as REDD+ institutions deployed the principles of good governance, advanced a robust system of measurement, reporting and verification of reductions in carbon emission, attracted large funding, and involved a broad range and multi-scale of actors, the REDD+ mechanism produced 'collateral benefits'. The tangible form of these benefits was the production of new policy instruments, eg the 'national REDD+ strategy' (paper 2), 'one map initiative' (paper 3), and ‘village agreement’ (paper 4) through which a significant body of evidence showed the capability of REDD+ to effect governance reform within and beyond Indonesia's forestry sector. Paper 1, revealed how policy actors perceived REDD+ and as such provides the basis of these three papers. The positive results of institutional interplay that occurred were determined not only by the characteristic of REDD+ institutions themselves but also by the existence of domestic reformists and the national reform agenda.

Transitional land uses produced through urbanisation continue to change the landscape and fragment ecological structures including green spaces across Europe (Nilsson et al., 2013). Green spaces offer significant benefits to humans, contributing to wellbeing and life satisfaction (Taylor, 2002). The understanding of how these unique green spaces spaces function and provide benefits to humans, and how landscape change in peri-urban contexts affects their performance, is important. The scope of this research is to contribute to an understanding of landscape fragmentation within some of Europe's polycentric urban regions, their peri-urban green spaces, and the associated impacts upon human quality of life. Two urban regional case studies, Paisley near Glasgow, Scotland, and Vantaa, near Helsinki, Finland were analysed and compared. The results indicate that humans interacting with more physically or ecologically fragmented peri-urban green spaces have higher self-reported life satisfaction levels. Though no statistically significant characteristics were apparent between life satisfaction and fragmented green space characteristics, this research was able to identify those specific structural attributes and physical characteristics of interstitial peri-urban green spaces within a polycentric region in a fragmented state that contribute to the physical, social, and psychological aspects of human wellbeing. The statistically significant eco-spatial characteristics of polycentric peri-urban interstitial green spaces that are reported to impact human wellbeing are the size, proximity, maintenance and management, and the level of greenness within its vegetation composition and setting. Overall, a spatially diverse, fragmented, peri-urban landscape whose green spaces are extensively sized, naturalistically shaped with horizontal vegetation and normal sized edges, most often parks or woodlands or forests which are integrated and physically connected to another green space which is moderately clean and somewhat safe as well as being located close to or adjacent to a heavy-trafficked road provide the most human wellbeing benefits.

Diese Dissertation beschreibt die Entwicklung und Anwendung des Klimawirkungsmoduls des ICLIPS-Modells, eines integrierten Modells des Klimawandels ('Integrated Assessment'-Modell). Vorangestellt ist eine Diskussion des gesellschaftspolitischen Kontexts, in dem modellbasiertes 'Integrated Assessment' stattfindet, aus der wichtige Anforderungen an die Spezifikation des Klimawirkungsmoduls abgeleitet werden. <br /> <br /> Das 'Integrated Assessment' des Klimawandels umfasst eine weiten Bereich von Aktivitäten zur wissenschaftsbasierten Unterstützung klimapolitischer Entscheidungen. Hierbei wird eine Vielzahl von Ansätzen verfolgt, um politikrelevante Informationen über die erwarteten Auswirkungen des Klimawandels zu berücksichtigen. Wichtige Herausforderungen in diesem Bereich sind die große Bandbreite der relevanten räumlichen und zeitlichen Skalen, die multifaktorielle Verursachung vieler 'Klimafolgen', erhebliche wissenschaftliche Unsicherheiten sowie die Mehrdeutigkeit unvermeidlicher Werturteile. Die Entwicklung eines hierarchischen Konzeptmodells erlaubt die Strukturierung der verschiedenen Ansätze sowie die Darstellung eines mehrstufigen Entwicklungsprozesses, der sich in der Praxis und der zu Grunde liegenden Theorie von Studien zur Vulnerabilität hinsichtlich des Klimawandels wiederspiegelt. <br /> <br /> 'Integrated Assessment'-Modelle des Klimawandels sind wissenschaftliche Werkzeuge, welche eine vereinfachte Beschreibung des gekoppelten Mensch-Klima-Systems enthalten. Die wichtigsten entscheidungstheoretischen Ansätze im Bereich des modellbasierten 'Integrated Assessment' werden im Hinblick auf ihre Fähigkeit zur adäquaten Darstellung klimapolitischer Entscheidungsprobleme bewertet. Dabei stellt der 'Leitplankenansatz' eine 'inverse' Herangehensweise zur Unterstützung klimapolitischer Entscheidungen dar, bei der versucht wird, die Gesamtheit der klimapolitischen Strategien zu bestimmen, die mit einer Reihe von zuvor normativ bestimmten Mindestkriterien (den sogenannten 'Leitplanken') verträglich sind. Dieser Ansatz verbindet bis zu einem gewissen Grad die wissenschaftliche Strenge und Objektivität simulationsbasierter Ansätze mit der Fähigkeit von Optimierungsansätzen, die Gesamtheit aller Entscheidungsoptionen zu berücksichtigen. Das ICLIPS-Modell ist das erste 'Integrated Assessment'-Modell des Klimawandels, welches den Leitplankenansatz implementiert. <br /> <br /> Die Darstellung von Klimafolgen ist eine wichtige Herausforderung für 'Integrated Assessment'-Modelle des Klimawandels. Eine Betrachtung bestehender 'Integrated Assessment'-Modelle offenbart große Unterschiede in der Berücksichtigung verschiedener vom Klimawandel betroffenen Sektoren, in der Wahl des bzw. der Indikatoren zur Darstellung von Klimafolgen, in der Berücksichtigung nicht-klimatischer Entwicklungen einschließlich gezielter Anpassungsmaßnahmen an den Klimawandel, in der Behandlung von Unsicherheiten und in der Berücksichtigung von 'singulären' Ereignissen. 'Integrated Assessment'-Modelle, die auf einem Inversansatz beruhen, stellen besondere Anforderungen an die Darstellung von Klimafolgen. Einerseits muss der Detaillierungsgrad hinreichend sein, um Leitplanken für Klimafolgen sinnvoll definieren zu können; andererseits muss die Darstellung effizient genug sein, um die Gesamtheit der möglichen klimapolitischen Strategien erkunden zu können. Großräumige Singularitäten können häufig durch vereinfachte dynamische Modelle abgebildet werden. Diese Methode ist jedoch weniger geeignet für reguläre Klimafolgen, bei denen die Bestimmung relevanter Ergebnisse in der Regel die Berücksichtigung der Heterogenität von klimatischen, naturräumlichen und sozialen Faktoren auf der lokalen oder regionalen Ebene erfordert. <br /> <br /> Klimawirkungsfunktionen stellen sich als die geeignetste Darstellung regulärer Klimafolgen im ICLIPS-Modell heraus. Eine Klimawirkungsfunktion beschreibt in aggregierter Form die Reaktion eines klimasensitiven Systems, wie sie von einem geographisch expliziten Klimawirkungsmodell für eine repräsentative Teilmenge möglicher zukünftiger Entwicklungen simuliert wurde. Die in dieser Arbeit vorgestellten Klimawirkungsfunktionen nutzen die globale Mitteltemperatur sowie die atmosphärische CO2-Konzentration als Prädiktoren für global und regional aggregierte Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf natürliche Ökosysteme, die landwirtschaftliche Produktion und die Wasserverfügbarkeit. Die Anwendung einer 'Musterskalierungstechnik' ermöglicht hierbei die Berücksichtigung der regionalen und saisonalen Muster des Klimaänderungssignals aus allgemeinen Zirkulationsmodellen, ohne die Effizienz der dynamischen Modellkomponenten zu beeinträchtigen. <br /> <br /> Bemühungen zur quantitativen Abschätzung zukünftiger Klimafolgen sehen sich bei der Wahl geeigneter Indikatoren in der Regel einem Zielkonflikt zwischen der Relevanz eines Indikators für Entscheidungsträger und der Zuverlässigkeit, mit der dieser bestimmt werden kann, gegenüber. Eine Reihe von nichtmonetären Indikatoren zur aggregierten Darstellung von Klimafolgen in Klimawirkungsfunktionen wird präsentiert, welche eine Balance zwischen diesen beiden Zielen anstreben und gleichzeitig die Beschränkungen berücksichtigen, die sich aus anderen Komponenten des ICLIPS-Modells ergeben. Klimawirkungsfunktionen werden durch verschiedene Typen von Diagrammen visualisiert, welche jeweils unterschiedliche Perspektiven auf die Ergebnismenge der Klimawirkungssimulationen erlauben.<br /> <br /> Die schiere Anzahl von Klimawirkungsfunktionen verhindert ihre umfassende Darstellung in dieser Arbeit. Ausgewählte Ergebnisse zu Veränderungen in der räumlichen Ausdehnung von Biomen, im landwirtschaftlichen Potential verschiedener Länder und in der Wasserverfügbarkeit in mehreren großen Einzugsgebieten werden diskutiert. Die Gesamtheit der Klimawirkungsfunktionen wird zugänglich gemacht durch das 'ICLIPS Impacts Tool', eine graphische Benutzeroberfläche, die einen bequemen Zugriff auf über 100.000 Klimawirkungsdiagramme ermöglicht. Die technischen Aspekte der Software sowie die zugehörige Datenbasis wird beschrieben. <br /> <br /> Die wichtigste Anwendung von Klimawirkungsfunktionen ist im 'Inversmodus', wo sie genutzt werden, um Leitplanken zur Begrenzung von Klimafolgen in gleichzeitige Randbedingungen für Variablen aus dem optimierenden ICLIPS-Klima-Weltwirtschafts-Modell zu übersetzen. Diese Übersetzung wird ermöglicht durch Algorithmen zur Bestimmung von Mengen erreichbarer Klimazustände ('reachable climate domains') sowie zur parametrisierten Approximation zulässiger Klimafenster ('admissible climate windows'), die aus Klimawirkungsfunktionen abgeleitet werden. Der umfassende Bestand an Klimawirkungsfunktionen zusammen mit diesen Algorithmen ermöglicht es dem integrierten ICLIPS-Modell, in flexibler Weise diejenigen klimapolitischen Strategien zu bestimmen, welche bestimmte in biophysikalischen Einheiten ausgedrückte Begrenzungen von Klimafolgen explizit berücksichtigen. Diese Möglichkeit bietet kein anderes intertemporal optimierendes 'Integrated Assessment'-Modell. Eine Leitplankenanalyse mit dem integrierten ICLIPS-Modell unter Anwendung ausgewählter Klimawirkungsfunktionen für Veränderungen natürlicher Ökosysteme wird beschrieben. In dieser Analyse werden so genannte 'notwendige Emissionskorridore' berechnet, die vorgegebene Beschränkungen hinsichtlich der maximal zulässigen globalen Vegetationsveränderungen und der regionalen Klimaschutzkosten berücksichtigen. Dies geschieht sowohl für eine 'Standardkombination' der drei gewählten Kriterien als auch für deren systematische Variation. <br /> <br /> Eine abschließende Diskussion aktueller Entwicklungen in der 'Integrated Assessment'-Modellierung stellt diese Arbeit mit anderen einschlägigen Bemühungen in Beziehung. / This thesis describes the development and application of the impacts module of the ICLIPS model, a global integrated assessment model of climate change. The presentation of the technical aspects of this model component is preceded by a discussion of the sociopolitical context for model-based integrated assessments, which defines important requirements for the specification of the model.<br /> <br /> Integrated assessment of climate change comprises a broad range of scientific efforts to support the decision-making about objectives and measures for climate policy, whereby many different approaches have been followed to provide policy-relevant information about climate impacts. Major challenges in this context are the large diversity of the relevant spatial and temporal scales, the multifactorial causation of many climate impacts', considerable scientific uncertainties, and the ambiguity associated with unavoidable normative evaluations. A hierarchical framework is presented for structuring climate impact assessments that reflects the evolution of their practice and of the underlying theory.<br /> <br /> Integrated assessment models of climate change (IAMs) are scientific tools that contain simplified representations of the relevant components of the coupled society-climate system. The major decision-analytical frameworks for IAMs are evaluated according to their ability to address important aspects of the pertinent social decision problem. The guardrail approach is presented as an inverse' framework for climate change decision support, which aims to identify the whole set of policy strategies that are compatible with a set of normatively specified constraints (guardrails'). This approach combines, to a certain degree, the scientific rigour and objectivity typical of predictive approaches with the ability to consider virtually all decision options that is at the core of optimization approaches. The ICLIPS model is described as the first IAM that implements the guardrail approach.<br /> <br /> The representation of climate impacts is a key concern in any IAM. A review of existing IAMs reveals large differences in the coverage of impact sectors, in the choice of the impact numeraire(s), in the consideration of non-climatic developments, including purposeful adaptation, in the handling of uncertainty, and in the inclusion of singular events. IAMs based on an inverse approach impose specific requirements to the representation of climate impacts. This representation needs to combine a level of detail and reliability that is sufficient for the specification of impact guardrails with the conciseness and efficiency that allows for an exploration of the complete domain of plausible climate protection strategies. Large-scale singular events can often be represented by dynamic reduced-form models. This approach, however, is less appropriate for regular impacts where the determination of policy-relevant results generally needs to consider the heterogeneity of climatic, environmental, and socioeconomic factors at the local or regional scale.<br /> <br /> Climate impact response functions (CIRFs) are identified as the most suitable reduced-form representation of regular climate impacts in the ICLIPS model. A CIRF depicts the aggregated response of a climate-sensitive system or sector as simulated by a spatially explicit sectoral impact model for a representative subset of plausible futures. In the CIRFs presented here, global mean temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentration are used as predictors for global and regional impacts on natural vegetation, agricultural crop production, and water availability. Application of a pattern scaling technique makes it possible to consider the regional and seasonal patterns in the climate anomalies simulated by several general circulation models while ensuring the efficiency of the dynamic model components.<br /> <br /> Efforts to provide quantitative estimates of future climate impacts generally face a trade-off between the relevance of an indicator for stakeholders and the exactness with which it can be determined. A number of non-monetary aggregated impact indicators for the CIRFs is presented, which aim to strike the balance between these two conflicting goals while taking into account additional constraints of the ICLIPS modelling framework. Various types of impact diagrams are used for the visualization of CIRFs, each of which provides a different perspective on the impact result space.<br /> <br /> The sheer number of CIRFs computed for the ICLIPS model precludes their comprehensive presentation in this thesis. Selected results referring to changes in the distribution of biomes in different biogeographical regions, in the agricultural potential of various countries, and in the water availability in selected major catchments are discussed. The full set of CIRFs is accessible via the ICLIPS Impacts Tool, a graphical user interface that provides convenient access to more than 100,000 impact diagrams developed for the ICLIPS model. The technical aspects of the software are described as well as the accompanying database of CIRFs.<br /> <br /> The most important application of CIRFs is in inverse' mode, where they are used to translate impact guardrails into simultaneous constraints for variables from the optimizing ICLIPS climate-economy model. This translation is facilitated by algorithms for the computation of reachable climate domains and for the parameterized approximation of admissible climate windows derived from CIRFs. The comprehensive set of CIRFs, together with these algorithms, enables the ICLIPS model to flexibly explore sets of climate policy strategies that explicitly comply with impact guardrails specified in biophysical units. This feature is not found in any other intertemporally optimizing IAM. A guardrail analysis with the integrated ICLIPS model is described that applies selected CIRFs for ecosystem changes. So-called necessary carbon emission corridors' are determined for a default choice of normative constraints that limit global vegetation impacts as well as regional mitigation costs, and for systematic variations of these constraints.<br /> <br /> A brief discussion of recent developments in integrated assessment modelling of climate change connects the work presented here with related efforts.