On Monday 4th April, the latest IPCC report Mitigation was released. It says action is needed “now or never” if the world is to stave off climate disaster.
The Guardian carries an explanatory article, an extract of which is below.
Greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025, say climate scientists in what is in effect their final warning.
UN Secretary General, Antonion Gutterres, said this of it:
The jury has reached a verdict. And it is damning. This report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a litany of broken promises. It is a file of shame, cataloguing the empty pledges that put us firmly on track towards an unliveable world.
We are on a fast track to climate disaster: major cities under water; unprecedented heatwaves; terrifying storms; widespread water shortages; the extinction of a million species of plants and animals; this is not fiction or exaggeration.
Some governments and business leaders are saying one thing – but doing another. Simply put, they are lying. And the results will be catastrophic.
He goes on to say:
This is a climate emergency. Climate scientists warn that we are already perilously close to tipping points that could lead to cascading and irreversible climate impacts. But high-emitting governments and corporations are not just turning a blind eye; they are adding fuel to the flames.
They are choking our planet, based on vested interests and historic investments in fossil fuels, when cheaper, renewable solutions provide green jobs, energy security, and greater price stability.
Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.
And for those who are still investing in fossil fuels:
Investing in new fossil fuels infrastucture is moral and economic madness. Such investments will soon be stranded assets – a blot on the landscape, and a blight on investment portfolios. But it doesn’t have to be with way.
Inequalities are at unprecedented levels. The recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic is scandalously uneven. Inflation is rising, and the war in Ukraine is causing food and energy prices to rocket.
But increasing fossil fuel production will only make matters worse. Choices made by countries now will make or break the commitment to 1.5 degrees.
A shift to renewables will mend our broken global energy mix and offer hope to millions of people suffering climate impacts today. Climate promises and plans must be turned into reality and action, now.
It is time to stop burning our planet, and start investing in the abundant renewable energy all around us.
The world can still hope to stave off the worst ravages of climate breakdown but only through a “now or never” dash to a low-carbon economy and society, scientists have said in what is in effect a final warning for governments on the climate.
Greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025, and can be nearly halved this decade, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to give the world a chance of limiting future heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
The final cost of doing so will be minimal, amounting to just a few percent of global GDP by mid-century, though it will require a massive effort by governments, businesses and individuals.
The IPCC working group 3 report found:
- Coal must be effectively phased out if the world is to stay within 1.5C, and currently planned new fossil fuel infrastructure would cause the world to exceed 1.5C.
- Methane emissions must be reduced by a third.
- Growing forests and preserving soils will be necessary, but tree-planting cannot do enough to compensate for continued emissions for fossil fuels.
- Investment in the shift to a low-carbon world is about six times lower than it needs to be.
- All sectors of the global economy, from energy and transport to buildings and food, must change dramatically and rapidly, and new technologies including hydrogen fuel and carbon capture and storage will be needed.
Pete Smith, a professor of soils and global change at Aberdeen University, said: “The time of reckoning is now. We have one decade to get on track. We use fossil fuels in all these things that we need to change.”
This is an extract from the Guardian, where you can see the full article.