September 17th, 2024

IPCC report: Rapid greenhouse gas emission cuts needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C

Global warming will lead to increases in sea level that would impact low-lying island countries
Global warming will lead to increases in sea level that would impact low-lying island countries

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released on 20 March highlights the urgent need for climate action to secure a liveable future for all. Scientists say that there are multiple, feasible and effective options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change that are available now. The report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that if we act now, we can still secure a liveable sustainable future for all.

Why it matters: The report brings into sharp focus the losses and damages that we are already experiencing and will continue into the future, hitting the most vulnerable people and ecosystems especially hard. Climate justice is crucial because those who have contributed least to climate change are being disproportionately affected. In the last decade, deaths from floods, droughts, and storms were 15 times higher in highly vulnerable regions.

The big picture: The solution lies in climate resilient development, which involves integrating measures to adapt to climate change with actions to reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions in ways that provide wider benefits. Access to clean energy and technologies improve health, especially for women and children. Low-carbon electrification, walking, cycling, and public transport enhance air quality, improve health, employment opportunities, and deliver equity. Effective and equitable conservation of approximately 30-50% of the Earth’s land, freshwater, and ocean will help ensure a healthy planet.

By the numbers: In 2018, the IPCC highlighted the unprecedented scale of the challenge required to keep warming to 1.5°C. Five years later, that challenge has become even greater due to a continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions. More than a century of burning fossil fuels as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use has led to global warming of 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels. This has resulted in more frequent and more intense extreme weather events that have caused increasingly dangerous impacts on nature and people in every region of the world. Emissions should be decreasing by now and will need to be cut by almost half by 2030, if warming is to be limited to 1.5°C.

Enabling sustainable development: There is sufficient global capital to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions if existing barriers are reduced. Increasing finance to climate investments is important to achieve global climate goals. Governments, through public funding and clear signals to investors, are key in reducing these barriers. Investors, central banks, and financial regulators can also play their part. Changes in the food sector, electricity, transport, industry, buildings, and land-use can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Transformational changes are more likely to succeed where there is trust, where everyone works together to prioritise risk reduction, and where benefits and burdens are shared equitably. We live in a diverse world in which everyone has different responsibilities and different opportunities to bring about change. Some can do a lot while others will need support to help them manage the change.