A liveable future for all is possible, if we take urgent climate action - IPCC Summary Report
Tue 21 March 2023
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The scientific body that advises the United Nations on climate change has released a new 'synthesis report' summarising key research completed over the last five years. The report says that emissions must start falling quickly and that there are multiple, feasible and effective options available now to cut them while we must also adapt to human-induced climate change.
The IPCC urges policymakers, investors, and businesses to work together to accelerate decarbonisation efforts across the global economy and warns that progress remains far too slow despite many readily-available solutions. The group of leading scientists call for the "mainstreaming" of climate action across society, warning that the window for securing a liveable, sustainable future is rapidly closing despite there being "multiple, feasible, and effective" solutions available to stave off dangerous climate change.
IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee said, at the launch of the report: “Mainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages for nature and people, it will also provide wider benefits. This Synthesis Report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that, if we act now, we can still secure a liveable sustainable future for all.”
In 2018, the IPCC highlighted the unprecedented scale of the challenge required to keep warming to less than 1.5°C. Five years later, the Panel says that challenge has become even greater due to a continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions. It says: "the pace and scale of what has been done so far, and current plans, are insufficient to tackle climate change".
The report says that global warming has already reached 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels and this has resulted in more frequent and more intense extreme weather events that have caused increasingly dangerous impacts on nature and people in every region of the world.
Every increment of warming results in rapidly escalating hazards. More intense heatwaves, heavier rainfall and other weather extremes further increase risks for human health and ecosystems. In every region, people are dying from extreme heat. Climate-driven food and water insecurity is expected to increase with increased warming. When the risks combine with other adverse events, such as pandemics or conflicts, they become even more difficult to manage.
The report focuses on equity issues relating to climate change. One of the 93 authors, Aditi Mukherji said: “Climate justice is crucial because those who have contributed least to climate change are being disproportionately affected.”
“Almost half of the world’s population lives in regions that are highly vulnerable to climate change. In the last decade, deaths from floods, droughts and storms were 15 times higher in highly vulnerable regions.“
The report says that human-kind will need to adapt to changes as well as making even greater efforts to keep warming less than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This will mean making deep, rapid and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors.
The IPCC says that emissions should be decreasing - rather than continuing to rise - by now and will need to be cut by almost half by 2030, if warming is to be limited to 1.5°C.
The report says that climate, ecosystems and society are interconnected. Effective and equitable conservation of approximately 30-50% of the Earth’s land, freshwater and oceans will help ensure a healthy planet. Urban areas offer a global scale opportunity for ambitious climate action that contributes to sustainable development.
Changes in the food sector, electricity, transport, industry, buildings and land-use can lead to emissions reductions and make it easier for people to lead low carbon lifestyles, which will also improve health and wellbeing. A better understanding of the consequences of overconsumption, the report says, can help people make more informed choices.
Hoesung Lee said: “Transformational changes are more likely to succeed where there is trust, where everyone works together to prioritise risk reduction, and where benefits and burdens are shared equitably. We live in a diverse world in which everyone has different responsibilities and different opportunities to bring about change. Some can do a lot while others will need support to help them manage the change.”
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