“The climate time bomb is ticking,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement marking the launch of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s synthesis report on Monday. “Humanity is on thin ice – and that ice is melting fast.”
Floods in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province, on August 26, 2022. Scientists have found that devastating floods around the world are getting worse due to climate change. Photo: AFP
The report draws on the findings of hundreds of scientists to provide a comprehensive assessment of how the climate crisis is unfolding. The UN report on the climate crisis confirms the world has solutions – but politics is standing in the way.
“This report is the most serious and worrying assessment yet of the growing climate impacts we all face if systemic changes are not made now,” said Sara Shaw, programme coordinator at Friends of the Earth International.
The report says the impact of pollution on warming the planet is more severe than expected and we are facing increasingly dangerous and irreversible consequences.
While the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels remains achievable, the report notes that the path to achieving that goal is rapidly closing as global planet-warming pollution continues to rise — emissions rose nearly 1% last year.
Atmospheric carbon pollution levels are at their highest in more than two million years and the rate of temperature rise over the past half century is the fastest in 2,000 years. The impacts of the climate crisis continue to hit poorer, more vulnerable countries hardest.
“Our planet is reeling from extreme climate impacts, from scorching heat waves and destructive storms to severe droughts and water shortages,” said Ani Dasgupta, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute.
The biggest threat to climate action is the world's continued addiction to burning fossil fuels, which still account for more than 80% of the world's energy and 75% of human-caused planet-warming pollution.
Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in a statement that the new UN report shows that “the future of Earth is not predetermined.”
Stay away from fossil fuels
Monday’s report sets out pathways to keep the world on track to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It says preventing the worst impacts of the climate crisis will require fundamental changes across every sector of the economy and society.
It calls for deep cuts in planet-warming pollution by moving away from fossil fuels and investing in renewable energy. To limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the report says, global levels of planet-warming pollution must fall by 60% by 2035 compared to 2019.
It highlights the need for more investment to build resilience to climate impacts and to increase support for those struggling with climate-related losses, particularly in the most vulnerable countries.
The report also says we need to remove carbon from the air, including potentially through technology such as removing carbon directly from the air and storing it, possibly by pumping it underground.
“In my country Sri Lanka, the impacts of climate change are being felt. We don’t have time to chase fairy tales like carbon removal technology to suck carbon out of the air,” Hemantha Withanage, president of Friends of the Earth International, said in a statement.
The report will feed into the next United Nations climate conference COP28 in Dubai, UAE later this year.
Mai Van (according to UN, CNN, AFP)
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