HC Deb 08 May 1991 vol 190 c533W
Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate how many centimetres the sea level of the channel would rise given(a) a 1.5 deg. C rise in global average surface temperature and (b) a 4.5 deg. C rise in global average surface temperature.

Mr. Trippier

Estimates of sea level rise due to global warming depend on how rapidly the warming takes place. In the scientific assessment report of the linter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, the "business-as-usual" scenario gives temperatures of 1.5 and 4.5 deg. C above present at some time between 2090 and 2100 for the high and low sensitivity cases respectively. Corresponding average sea level rises are about 30 and 100 cm. At the channel coast vertical land movements would add about 30 cm to the relative sea level rise over the next century.