IPCC we see and hear you

The latest IPCC report is making headlines — but is its calling for solutions, justice and speed resonating? The report’s thousands of pages show the findings of eight years of research by hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists. We’re sharing this summary of the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — because quite frankly it needs to penetrate public awareness and influence high-level action faster.

‘This report is a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe. Our world needs climate action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once.’ — António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

What is needed? Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.

Covering Climate Now, the world’s largest media collective of solutions journalism chewed and digested this landmark Summary For Policymakers and converted it into plain English:

‘Borrowing the title of this year’s “Best Picture” Oscar, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that countries must now do “everything, everywhere, all at once” to limit heat-trapping emissions. That means, per the International Energy Agency, zero new oil, gas, or coal development.’

They highlighted neglect from the two leading climate superpowers the United States (which just green-lit the Willow oil project in Alaska) and China (constructing 106 gigawatts worth of new coal plants).

Read their eight-point summary. 

Act now or it will be too late.

Theories and innovations abound, and there are solutions in circulation, but we need to act now to secure a liveable, sustainable future for all, as emphasised by IPCC chair Hoesung Lee. Only swift and drastic action can avert irrevocable damage to the world, underscored The Guardian — a long-time loud voice in driving awareness and closing the gap between that and action. Their interpretation of the report boiled down to one message: act now, or it will be too late.

Read the article.

Global warming will soon reach 1.5C. 

The Financial Times observed that the world meeting Paris Agreement 2030 targets is unlikely: ‘Global warming is “more likely than not” in the near-term to reach a 1.5C rise since pre-industrial times, the world’s top scientists said, and climate change taking place now will continue across the lifespan of three generations born in 1950, 1970 and 2020.’

World on ‘thin ice’ declared Associated Press.

Widely accepted to be the most neutral and unbiased news source, Associated Press said of the science report released this week: ‘to stay under the warming limit set in Paris the world needs to cut 60% of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, compared with 2019, adding a new target not previously mentioned in six previous reports issued since 2018.’

Rich nations are failing to help the developing world adapt.

‘Increasing weather and climate extreme events have exposed millions of people to acute food insecurity and reduced water security, with the largest adverse impacts observed in many locations and/or communities in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, LDCs, Small Islands and the Arctic, and globally for Indigenous Peoples, small-scale food producers and low-income households,’ the IPPC report states.

As CCNow interprets this: ‘The world has plenty of money to tackle this problem, but Global North countries and institutions must finally fulfil their legal obligation to provide $100 billion in annual climate aid — and much more than that going forward.’

‘People are starving, now, because of climate change, especially in poor countries throughout the Global South.’ — CCNow

‘It is a huge injustice,’ Aditi Mukherji, one of the authors of the report told Climate Home News. ‘Least developed countries and coastal communities who have not caused the problem are now having to take loans to solve the problem. It makes hardly any sense.

You don’t need to read all of the tens of thousands of words of the fourth and final instalment of the Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report to take from it that the extraction and combustion of oil and gas, and the burning of coal and the too-slow transition to green energy is the biggest hurdle. And that this is often at odds with the profit-led priorities of big business.

Half the world is already highly vulnerable to climate change

This wrap was conscientiously compiled for Weeva, by Juliet Kinsman, Sustainability Editor and founder of Bouteco. Juliet consistently emphasises that almost half of the world’s population is already living on the frontline of extreme weather and floods, drought, and storms. History will remember those in the Global North who did nothing to support those in the Global South no different from those who profited from slavery while doing nothing to tackle social inequity.

Weeva couldn’t agree more.