Problem or Solution?
A new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are responsible for warming the planet by 1.1 degrees Celsius from the period 1850-1900 to the present day.
More alarming is the fact that the study predicts that global temperature is expected to reach or exceed 1.5°C or more of warming in the next 20 years.
This assessment is based on data sets collected by all the world’s climate scientists.
They are unanimous in observing that the climate is changing in every corner of the globe on a scale not seen for thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years. And they agree that some of these ongoing changes will be irreversible for thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years.
But all also agree that “strong and lasting reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases can limit the magnitude of climate change”.
According to the scientists’ calculations, such reductions can have benefits quickly for air quality, but it may take 20 to 30 years for the Earth’s temperatures to stabilise.
The Climate Change: The Science Basis report was adopted last Friday by the 195 governments that are members of the Panel, and is the first of six reports to be published by 2022.
“The report reflects an extraordinary effort under exceptional circumstances,” said said Hoesung Lee, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel. “The findings of this report and the advances it reflects in climate science provide an invaluable contribution to climate negotiations and decision-making.