New IPCC report released

The first part of the Sixth Assessment Report, “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis”, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “, just came out.

Here are the key messages this report conveys:

• The climate crisis is unequivocally caused by human activities and is affecting every corner of the planet’s land, air and sea already.
• The rate of warming hasn’t been seen in the preceding 100,000 years. Without human influence, temperatures would have remained roughly the same as they were in 1850.
• Given the current amout of CO2 in the atmosphere, and being very difficult to stop its production it in a short period of time, the IPCC predicts – even under the best case scenario – warming will continue for several years to come.
• Some of the changes are irrevirsible, others can still be slowed and some stopped by limiting warming
• We will definitely hit 1.5C in the next two decades, whatever happens to emissions
• Keeping to that 1.5C is not yet impossible, but it will require “immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions” in emissions of which there is no sign to date.
• Every tonne of CO2 adds to global warming, every tonne makes a difference.
• Even cutting emissions, but more slowly, leads to 2C and significantly more suffering for all life on Earth.
• Individuals, employers, institutions and international partners will need to work together to understand the trade-offs, agree compromises and seize opportunities
• Reaching net zero will require a renewed emphasis on science and innovationIt is now unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land to an unprecedented degree, with effects almost certain to worsen through the coming decades.

In a nutshell, our choices as a species will determine how bad it will turn out.

“Today’s IPCC Report Working Group 1 Report is a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk ”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres

Full report here:  https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#FullReport