March 20 marked the release of the final installment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), an eight-year long undertaking from the world’s most authoritative scientific body on climate change. Drawing on the findings of 234 scientists on the physical science of climate change, 270 scientists on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability to climate change, and 278 scientists on climate change mitigation, this IPCC synthesis report provides the most comprehensive, best available scientific assessment of climate change.
Here are 8 key findings:
1.Human-caused global warming of 1.1 degrees Celsius has resulted in climatic changes that are unparalleled in recent human history.
2.Climate impacts on people and ecosystems are more extensive and severe than anticipated, and future hazards will rise rapidly with each fraction of a degree of warming.
3.Adaptation methods can successfully increase resilience; nevertheless, more funding is required to scale solutions.
4.Some climatic consequences are already so severe that they can’t be mitigated, resulting in losses and damages.
5.The world must swiftly transition away from the usage of fossil fuels, which is the primary source of the climate problem.
6.We also require immediate, system-wide changes to ensure a net-zero and resilient future.
7.Carbon reduction is now required to keep global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
8.Climate change — as well as our collective efforts to adapt to and mitigate it — will exacerbate inequity should we fail to ensure a just transition.
The IPCC’s AR6 report clearly states that the risks of inaction on these change are enormous, and that the path forward demands unprecedented transformation. This study, serves as a reminder that we have never had greater knowledge about the intensity of the climate catastrophe and its cascading effects — or on what has to be done to lessen the dangers that are intensifying.
Limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) is still possible, but only if we act immediately.
Reference- IPCC (AR6) report, Clean Technica, National Geographic, Mercom India