Monday 9 August 2021
Many changes to the climate due to past and future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are now irreversible for the next millennia – especially those in the ocean, including melting ice caps and rising sea levels.
That is just one of the devastating findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) new report.
This is not to say that all hope is lost.
The report reveals that heavy reductions in global carbon emissions would limit climate change overall; with air quality improving rapidly and global temperatures taking between 20 to 30 years to stabilise.
The IPCC has laid out the necessary steps that must be taken to mitigate climate change and has highlighted if these are not taken, preventing global warming levels from surpassing 1.5°C over the coming decades will be impossible.
[caption id="attachment_242689" align="alignnone" width="720"] Human activity has raised temperatures by 1.1°C since 1890
Image: Shutterstock[/caption]
What is climate change doing?
[caption id="attachment_242685" align="alignnone" width="720"] The full prevention of melting ice caps and glaciers is now insurmountable
Image: Shutterstock[/caption]
The report states that human activities are responsible for around 1.1°C of global warming since the turn of the nineteenth century, with the IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair Valérie Masson-Delmotte stating: “This report is a reality check. We now have a much clearer picture of the past, present and future climate, which is essential for understanding where we are headed, what can be done and how we can prepare.”
Humans can still determine the future course of climate and the health of the planet.
What can be done?
“Climate change is already affecting every region on Earth, in multiple ways. The changes we experience will increase with additional warming.
“Stabilising the climate will require strong, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and reaching net zero carbon emissions. Limiting other greenhouse gases and air pollutants, especially methane, could have benefits both for health and the climate”, said IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair Panmao Zhai.
Stay tuned to the future Net Zero website and social medias for more information, interviews and coverage.