The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the world’s leading assessor of science related to climate change and provides regular assessments relating to its impacts and future risks.
Its most recent report, written by 93 scientists from around the world, was released on March 20. The scientists concluded in a summary: “Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health (very high confidence). There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all (very high confidence).”
As The New York Times pointed out, the words “very high confidence” are the words chosen by the IPCC scientists. This is scientific lingo that means they are darn certain what we are experiencing every day is a threat to a “liveable and sustainable future for all.”
That’s a scary thought.
So far, global surface temperature has increased by 1.1 degrees celsius since pre-industrial levels in 1850-1900 to 2011-2020, and we are dangerously nearing the tipping point of a 1.5 degree increase. At a 1.5 temperature increase, scientists have warned for years that earth will be on a dangerous slide downhill with all the negative environmental impacts that we are now experiencing getting exponentially worse with every tenth of a degree increase. Immediate and vast action is necessary to prevent that.
“[K]eeping warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels requires deep, rapid and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors,” the IPCC said in a press release accompanying its report. “Emissions should be decreasing by now and will need to be cut by almost half by 2030, if warming is to be limited to 1.5°C.”
That’s what the New York League of Conservation Voters and other environmental groups in New York state, across the country and throughout the world are working hard to do.
Some of the key conclusions in the IPCC report:
- It’s “unequivocal” that humans have caused the increase in greenhouse gas emissions over the last 150 years and been the cause of global warming and that this global warming is causing what we experience or read about almost every day in the newspaper: extreme heat, extreme weather, ocean acidification, global sea rise, melting glaciers, increased precipitation, increased floods, increased droughts and an increase in conditions that cause wildfires.
- The leading polluters of CO2 are the richest, most developed countries: North America accounts for 23 percent of all CO2 emissions since 1850, with Europe second, at 16 percent, and East Asia, which includes China and South Korea, third, at 12 percent.
- Approximately 40 percent of the world population (3.3 billion to 3.6 billion people) live in areas that are highly vulnerable to climate change and most of them live in less developed countries. “Increasing weather and climate extreme events have exposed millions of people to acute food insecurity and reduced water security,” a summary of the IPCC report states. “With the largest adverse impacts observed in many locations and/or communities in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, LDCs (least developed countries), Small Islands and the Arctic, and globally for Indigenous Peoples, small-scale food producers and low-income households. Between 2010 and 2020, human mortality from floods, droughts and storms was 15 times higher in highly vulnerable regions, compared to regions with very low vulnerability.”
- In all regions of the world, an increase in climate-change caused by extreme heat has resulted in increased deaths.
- The level of CO2 in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last two million years.
- And it’s worth restating that the world’s most vulnerable populations, the people who are the poorest and have the least, are disproportionately impacted by climate change and had little to do with causing it.
“Climate justice is crucial because those who have contributed least to climate change are being disproportionately affected,” said Aditi Mukherji, one of the report’s authors. “Almost half of the world’s population lives in regions that are highly vulnerable to climate change. In the last decade, deaths from floods, droughts and storms were 15 times higher in highly vulnerable regions.”
The IPCC emphasizes there is a short window of time to take drastic action, and that this action must be worldwide and well coordinated among all groups in society, including local and national governments, and with countries working together.
“Climate resilient development is enabled when governments, civil society and the private sector make inclusive development choices that prioritize risk reduction, equity and justice, and when decision-making processes, finance and actions are integrated across governance levels, sectors, and timeframes,” the IPCC report states.
We are confident that the NYLCV is doing just that, joining forces with other environmental groups and working with and encouraging local, city, state and federal officials, as well as the private sector, to take action on our environmental priorities. Our green priorities run the gamut, as stated in our 2023 State Policy Agenda and other publications. They range from decarbonizing all state buildings by 2040, making citywide composting in New York mandatory, supporting congestion pricing to reduce traffic, and increased funding for NYC parks, to supporting environmental initiatives in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, supporting projects and legislation that promote clean energy, such as the wind farms off the coast of Long Island, tax incentives for homeowners and businesses to replace fossil fuels with clean energy, and projects designed to keep our water clean. And, of course, we support and encourage all New York City Council Members to sign the Green Pact, which establishes a path for achieving environmental justice and equity for New York City.
We believe this is a race against the clock, and certainly the IPCC report confirms that. They conclude with this thought: “The choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years (high confidence).”
To read the full IPCC report, called AR6 Synthesis Report, click here.
To read the IPCC policy summary click here.
To read the IPCC press release, click here.