International. Leading climate scientists issued a report on September 21 showing that in recent years, sea level rise, global warming, shrinking ice sheets and carbon pollution have accelerated; a call to action for political leaders who were present on September 23 in New York for summit-level climate change talks at the United Nations.
The landmark new report, which was presented at the UN Climate Action Summit, underscores the glaring and growing gap between agreed goals to address global warming and the real reality.
Compiled by the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the report, United in Science, includes details on the state of the climate and presents trends in atmospheric emissions and concentrations of major greenhouse gases.
Among other findings, the report says that accelerating climate impacts from melting ice caps to sea level rise and extreme weather were to blame for the record, as global average temperature rose by 1.1°C above pre-industrial times (1850-1900) and 0.2°C warmer than 2011-2015.
It highlights the urgency of fundamental socio-economic transformations and actions to curb carbon in key sectors such as land use and energy to avoid a dangerous rise in global temperature, with potentially irreversible impacts. It also examines tools to support both mitigation and adaptation.
The assessment by the world's leading climate experts and scientific organizations comes not only ahead of the UN summit, but also in the context of last week's global "climate attack," which saw millions of students from around the world take to the streets to demand real action from politicians and greats. Corporations to reverse the impacts of what UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called a "climate emergency."
Swedish teen activist Greta Thundberg told hundreds of young people gathered at UN headquarters on Saturday for the first Youth Climate Summit that "young people are unstoppable" and echoed her young compatriots who vowed to keep up the pressure on governments to take a serious political course. correct towards green energy and organic farming to seriously address climate change.
Guterres told the young activists he feared "that there will be a serious conflict between people and nature, between people and the planet." They said there is no time to lose, as so many people around the world are already suffering the impacts of Climate Change, the UN chief has been bluntly saying that world leaders "do not come to the Summit with beautiful speeches... come up with concrete plans," including carbon neutrality plans for 2050, options for addressing fossil fuel subsidies, taxing carbon, and a possible end to new coal power sources after next year.
Climate Outlook
The findings presented by the report's experts highlight the sense of urgency. According to scientists, amid growing recognition that climate impacts are hitting harder and earlier than climate assessments indicated even a decade ago, there is now a real risk of crossing tipping points.
For example, the report shows that the average global temperature for 2015–2019 is on track to be the warmest of any equivalent period on record. It is currently estimated at 1.1° Celsius (± 0.1°C) above pre-industrial times (1850–1900).
Widespread and long-lasting heat waves, record fires and other devastating events such as tropical cyclones, floods and drought have had a major impact on socio-economic development and the environment. In addition, as climate change intensifies, cities are particularly vulnerable to impacts such as heat stress and can play a key role in reducing emissions locally and globally.
In this context, meeting the goals set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement requires immediate and comprehensive action that includes deep decarbonisation complemented by ambitious policy measures, protection and enhancement of carbon sinks and biodiversity, and efforts to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
"Strategies for mitigation and improvement of adaptive risk management are needed in the future. Nor is it adequate in isolation given the pace of climate change and the magnitude of its impacts," says the report, which warns that to stop a global temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the level of ambition must be tripled.
The scientists say that "only immediate and inclusive action encompassing: deep decarbonisation complemented by ambitious policy measures, protection and enhancement of carbon sinks and biodiversity, and efforts to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, will enable us to comply with the Paris Agreement."
"The data and scientific findings presented in the report represent the most recent authoritative information on these topics. It highlights the urgent need to develop concrete actions that stop the worst effects of climate change," said the Scientific Advisory Group of the Climate Action Summit, co-chaired by WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas and Leena Srivastava, former Vice Chancellor of TERI School of Advanced Studies.
Source: United Nations.
