UN Report Claims Aggressive Change Needed To Slow Down Global Warming
The U.N’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released its report that stated exceptional changes are necessary to slow down the rapid pace of global warming.
According to the IPCC’s new special report, “there are clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems when limiting global warming to 1.5 C compared to 2 C.”
However, maintaining the global warming to 1.5C (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) would entail “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.”
The Paris Agreement in 2015, set the limit of global temperature at 2C but the currently the world is not even close to reaching that target.
U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) secretary-general Petteri Taalas told reporters in Geneva that the threat of global warming is very real and should be everyone’s concern:
“There is clearly need for a much higher ambition level to reach even a 2 degrees target, we are moving more toward 3 to 5 (degrees) at the moment. One of the key messages that comes out very strongly from this report is that we are already seeing the consequences of 1 C of global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, among other changes,” Panmao Zhai, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I, said in the statement.
To ensure that global temperature stays at 1.5C, man-made global net carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions would need to fall by about 45 percent by 2030 from 2010 levels and reach “net zero” by mid-century. Any additional emissions would require removing CO2 from the air.
The report stresses the immediate need for people to take action. Reducing consumption of meat and dairy products, driving electric vehicles or taking public transport and demanding and buying low-carbon products would have a positive impact on the climate.
Amjad Abdulla, IPCC board member and a chief negotiator for an alliance of small islands reiterated that the threat of flooding due to rising sea levels should not be ignored:
“The report shows we only have the slimmest of opportunities remaining to avoid unthinkable damage to the climate system that supports life as we know it.”