Make Immediate Changes Before The Window Closes, IPCC
April 06, 2022
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the final report in a series of three reports, earlier this month. This report focuses heavily on mitigation measures and methods, and is part of the sixth assessment report on climate change from the United Nations (UN). The scientists are urging to make immediate and drastic change to cut down emissions before the small window of opportunity closes. According to the report, we have gone past the watershed where we do not only have to slash emissions, but rather employ new technologies to capture greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
The report spells out the inevitable pathway for humanity where we are on the trajectory to 3.2 degrees Celsius even if all the policies in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) were fully implemented by 2030. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres calls out certain governments and institutions that they are not delivering on their promises. He warns that a global average temperature of 3.2 degrees Celsius would be catastrophic for humanity. The scientists warn that there is no two-way about it; keep global warming at or lower than 1.5 degrees Celsius or humanity, as we know it, could end.
However, Mr Guterres said that we can still limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in a feasible and cost effective way. The IPCC report lays that all of our carbon emissions must peak by 2025 and decrease rapidly from there on.
Heleen De Coninck, the lead author of the IPCC report and a Professor of Socio-Technical Innovation and Climate Change at Eindhoven University of Technology said “I think the report tells us that we've reached the now-or-never point of limiting warming to 1.5C. We have to peak our greenhouse gas emissions before 2025 and after that, reduce them very rapidly. And we will have to do negative emissions or carbon dioxide removal in the second half of the century, shortly after 2050, in order to limit warming to 1.5C.”
The years leading up to 2030 will play a paramount role in curbing climate change. The scientists warn that we have to drastically reduce emissions by 2030, or else, mitigating climate change could be unattainable. The scientists add that reducing our dependency on fossil fuel will be the key driver for change as the cost for solar panels and wind turbines are around 85% cheaper now when compared to the launch of those technologies.
Kaisa Kosonen from Greenpeace, who was an observer at the IPCC approval session said “It's game over for the fossil fuels that are fueling both wars and climate chaos. There’s no room for any new fossil fuel developments, and the coal and gas plants we already have need to close early.”
Priyadarshi Shukla who is the Co-chair of IPCC said that making adjustments to our lifestyles and behavior could reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to70% . The caveat is that it must be enable by policies, infrastructures and technologies. Ms Shukla added that there is evidence to show that the lifestyle changes, including dietary changes, can have a positive impact on our health and wellbeing. Governments need to provide infrastructures to encourage their citizens to adopt walking, cycling, healthier diets, and more electric vehicle charging points.
Lastly, for a long time, the IPCC did not address carbon capture technology as a potential mitigatory of climate change. The technology is fairly new and some scientists are skeptical of this approach. The traditional way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere was to plant more trees and change farming practices. However, the report identifies that traditional carbon capture methods may not be a viable solution as we need to remove a lot more carbon dioxide that is already present in the atmosphere. The hurdle to using machines to remove carbon dioxide is that the technology is very expensive now. Furthermore, some scientist are largely skeptical of quick and large removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.