The release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s global climate change report – the first since 2013 – concludes that human activity is changing the Earth’s climate in “unprecedented” ways, with some effects now having become irreversible.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body of experts whose conclusions are supported by the world’s governments, have issued a gloomy assessment of our planet’s future. Their study is the first significant assessment of climate change science since 2013, coming less than three months before the COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow.
Whilst significant reductions in emissions are essential in going forward, the report’s authors conclude that it is too late to restore the globe to less catastrophic weather patterns. The piece includes a warning from Greenpeace UK’s senior UK scientist who says,
“This is not the first generation of world leaders to be warned by scientists about the gravity of the climate crisis, but they’re the last that can afford to ignore them.”
Source: The Guardian
Fire, Droughts and Floods
The groundbreaking study warns of increasingly severe heatwaves, droughts, and flooding, as well as the breach of a critical temperature limit in less than 10 years. According to the UN Secretary-General, the report “is a code red for mankind.” However, experts believe that if the world responds quickly, a catastrophe can be avoided. There is optimism that drastic reductions in glasshouse gas emissions will help to stabilise increasing temperatures. UN Secretary-General António Guterres echoed the experts’ conclusions, stating that,
“If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. But, as today’s report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses. I count on government leaders and all stakeholders to ensure COP26 is a success.”
Source: BBC
What the Experts Are Saying
The UN report states that humans are the major cause of climate change, beyond any reasonable scientific doubt and an author on the report, Prof Ed Hawkins, states that the experts can not be any more certain on the topic.
According to the recent United Nations study from a worldwide team of experts, climate change is accelerating at an alarming rate; causing widespread consequences that are more firmly related to human activity than ever before. From rising temperatures to intense rainfall, extreme drought, rising sea levels, and thawing permafrost, the resulting picture shows that something is majorly wrong with the atmosphere.
Climate change is proceeding at a faster pace and producing widespread effects that are more definitively tied to human influence than ever before, according to a new @UN report from a global team of scientists.https://t.co/2klAI32808
— The Globe and Mail (@globeandmail) August 9, 2021
The IPCC report key points
The key points, as described by The Guardian, are:
- Global surface temperature was 1.09C higher in the decade between 2011-2020 than between 1850-1900.
- The past five years have been the hottest on record since 1850.
- The recent rate of sea level rise has nearly tripled compared with 1901-1971.
- Human influence is “very likely” (90%) the main driver of the global retreat of glaciers since the 1990s and the decrease in Arctic sea ice.
- It is “virtually certain” that hot extremes including heatwaves have become more frequent and more intense since the 1950s, while cold events have become less frequent and less severe.
The Australian government is also on the receiving end of criticism recently. This is for failing to commit to more aggressive emissions reduction targets – the government’s aim of reducing emissions by 26 percent by 2030 has remained unchanged for the past six years.
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