The Tip of the Iceberg

IPPC REPORT WARNS WE NEED TO ACT NOW!

The latest report put together by the put together by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and published on 20th March 2023, confirms that climate devastation is dangerously worsening but says that the most adverse effects of climate change can be avoided if action is taken NOW.

The report, which demands urgent acceleration of climate action, draws out the key insights from six previous reports, spanning thousands of pages, which were informed by hundreds of thousands of comments by governments and scientists. It says that the 1.5°C limit is still achievable and outlines the critical action required by everyone, illustrating the ways in which any community can decrease or prevent carbon-intensive consumption.

Researchers say that the next few years are crucial because if emissions aren't reduced by 2030, it will make it really difficult to limit warming later this century. They say that the current promises made by governments to cut carbon emissions aren't enough. Even if they are fully carried out, the world would still warm to a terrifying 3.2 Celsius. Instead, scientists want to ensure that any rises in temperature remain under 1.5 Celsius. - which is only a tenth of degree away from where we are now. After 1.5 Celsius species extinction, including coral reefs, irreversible melting of ice sheets and dramatic sea level rises of several metres will be much worse with tipping points being reached or exceeded.

According to the IPCC, in order to remain under 1.5 Celsius requires acting immediately to reduce carbon pollution and fossil fuel use by nearly two-thirds by 2035. Insisting that "the 1.5-degree limit is achievable" whilst calling for carbon-free electricity generation in the developed world by 2035, the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres insisted an end to new fossil fuel exploration and asked for rich countries to quit coal, oil and gas by 2040.

"Humanity is on thin ice, and that ice is melting fast," Antonio Guterres said. "Our world needs climate action on all fronts, everything, everywhere, all at once."

'Climate resilient development' is outlined in the report, which is integrating measures to adapt to climate change whilst reducing and avoiding emissions - such as re-thinking our homes, transport, farming and industry whilst planting trees or sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere. The important issues of international equity and addressing climate justice are also in the report. On the positive side, the IPCC findings also points out that we already have available much of the technology needed to safeguard our future, and the global finance. We just need to act NOW!

The head of the IPCC said the report contains "a message of hope in addition to those various scientific findings about the tremendous damages and also the losses that climate change has imposed on us and on the planet."

You can read the full report HERE.