A major scientific report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that human activity has resulted in an unprecedented expenditure of the planet’s “carbon budget,” 86 percent of it to be exact, thereby leaving humanity in a code red situation. If crucial action is not taken to achieve the Paris Agreement’s objective of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the report that was released this week said the world can expect increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts, and flooding.
At the current rate of human activity, the report that was produced by a prestigious grouping of scientists said a key temperature limit can be broken inside the next decade. In this regard the report said, “the world will hit one-and-a-half degrees warming much earlier than expected, possibly the middle of 2034” unless emissions are slashed.
Other key findings in the report which references over 14,000 scientific papers include: keeping to 1.5 Degrees Celsius will require “immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions” in emissions while slower action leads to a temperature of 2 Degrees Celsius and more suffering for all life on Earth.
Authors of the report said too that drought is increasing in more than 90% of regions across the world, that 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, and extreme sea-level events that occurred once a century are projected to occur at least annually.
Furthermore, under all the emissions scenarios considered in the report, all targets for reductions will be broken this century unless huge cuts in carbon emissions take place.
Significantly, the IPCC report found that 2,400 billion tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) have been emitted by humanity since 1850, and that mankind can afford to only leak another 400 billion tonnes to have a 66% chance of keeping to 1.5 Degrees Celsius. What this also means, the report said, is that the planet has already expended 86% of its carbon “budget” already.
Solutions proposed to address the crisis before humanity include using clean technology, carbon capture and storage, or planting trees.
The foregoing findings are documented in the IPCC’s Working Group I report which focuses on “Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis.” It has been approved by 195 member governments of the IPCC, through a virtual approval session that was held over two weeks ago starting on July 26.
The Working Group I report is the first instalment of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), which will be completed in 2022.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies.
