COP27 delegates might be counting on UN climate science agency studies to make decisions about future energy plans.
On the COP27 conference in Egypt, delegates might be counting on a long time of scientific research published by the UN climate science agency to sway decisions about future energy plans and global warming trajectories.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) produces reports roughly every five years that represent a worldwide scientific consensus on climate change, its causes and its impact. Last yr’s report tackled the predominant drivers of worldwide warming and the core elements of climate science.
That was followed by two major reports this yr – one in February addressing how the world might want to adapt to climate impacts, from rising seas to dwindling wildlife, and one other in April on ways for “mitigating” or reining in climate-warming emissions.
Listed below are a few of the key takeaways from those reports:
The science report
- Last yr’s report on the physical basis of climate change pulled no punches, stating unequivocally that humans are responsible for rising temperatures.
- It also warned climate change was already dangerously near spinning uncontrolled.
- Once-rare weather extremes have gotten more common, and a few regions are more vulnerable than others.
- For the primary time, the report’s authors called for urgent motion to curb methane. Up so far, the IPCC had focused on only carbon dioxide, probably the most abundant greenhouse gas.
- With time running out, the authors said it was value looking into the advantages and disadvantages of geoengineering, or large-scale interventions to shift the climate, reminiscent of injecting particles into the atmosphere to dam out solar radiation.
- The report warned the world’s nations, including the rich ones, that everybody needed to begin preparing for climate impacts and adapting to a hotter world.
The variation report
- News of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine eclipsed the discharge in February of a seminal report on how the world should prepare for a hotter reality.
- With climate change already fueling extreme weather worldwide, the report urged wealthy and poor countries alike to adapt to impacts including more frequent heatwaves, stronger storms and better sea levels.
- The report made clear that different regions face different risks and impacts, and offered localised projections for what to anticipate.
- Thousands and thousands of individuals face poverty and food insecurity in coming years, as climate change hits crops and water supplies and threatens to disrupt trade and labour markets.
- The daunting forecast for the world’s poor reignited calls for a “Loss and Damage” fund through which wealthy nations would compensate poor countries for costs incurred coping with climate-fueled disasters – a key demand by vulnerable countries going into the COP27 talks.
The mitigation report
- It’s “now or never”, one report co-chair said in releasing findings that show only drastic emissions cuts in the following few a long time would keep warming from spiralling uncontrolled.
- The report teased out how various emissions scenarios would likely translate into future temperature rise.
- Cities are a giant a part of the emissions problem, it said, but in addition a serious source of hope and positive solutions.
- The energy transition to renewable sources and clean-burning fuels is moving too slowly.
- The report also urged strong climate motion in agriculture, where farming methods and higher forest protection could help curb emissions.
- It warned that climate change threatens economic growth and for the primary time highlighted the necessity for motion at the person level, calling on governments to pass policies to vary consumer and transportation habits to encourage less waste and more efficiency.
