The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is part of the United Nations and World Meteorological Organization, and its job - in its own words - is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. It was established in 1988 and released the first report in 1990. The IPCC consists of scientists and a governing board.
The goal of the IPCC is to provide accurate information about climate change in order to inform decisions made by world governments. The IPCC focuses on the numerous impacts of global warming, like severe weather events resulting in immigration and national security risk. They also report mitigation and adaptation options. The research conducted under the IPCC adheres to the rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific process, and is therefore credible. In fact, their assessments are the gold standard in climate change research.
Every few years, the IPCC publishes new and updated data on the rapidly evolving state of climate change. Here is a brief overview of the most recent Assessment Report, AR6, from 2023:
The first statement, A.1, connects global warming to human activity. They state: "Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming… Global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase, with unequal historical and ongoing contributions arising from unsustainable energy use, land use and land-use change, lifestyles and patterns of consumption and production across regions, between and within countries, and among individuals."
A.2 shares that climate change will impact those who contributed the least (the less developed nations) the most. It reads: "Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. Human-caused climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. This has led to widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people. Vulnerable communities who have historically contributed the least to current climate change are disproportionately affected."
A.2.3 talks about the impact of climate change to ecosystems, "Climate change has caused substantial damages, and increasingly irreversible losses, in terrestrial, freshwater, cryospheric, and coastal and open ocean ecosystems."
In A.3, the IPCC urges world governments, especially the richer nations like the United States, to invest in climate change mitigation funding.
The IPCC also noted in A.3.1 that "growing public and political awareness of climate impacts and risks has resulted in at least 170 countries and many cities including adaptation in their climate policies and planning processes."
Action is required quickly. This is how the IPCC states it in B.3: "Some future changes are unavoidable and/or irreversible but can be limited by deep, rapid, and sustained global greenhouse gas emissions reduction. The likelihood of abrupt and/or irreversible changes increases with higher global warming levels."
According to the IPCC, climate change becomes harder and harder to solve due to the longevity and concentration of atmospheric gases. However, in C.3, the IPCC states that we already have feasible and available regeneration methods and they urge, in C.6, governance for swift adoption.
These are small snippets of a comprehensive report. One summary might be as follows: Human impact on the planet is causing damage; action is required quickly in order to lessen problems for younger generations; we have the mitigation methods and they are not difficult to adopt. In fact, most scientists agree that implementing basic measures will reduce emissions - across all sectors of the economy - immediately by 50%.
The IPCC information is openly available to all, https://www.ipcc.ch/. The latest study, published in March, 2023, is the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). A summary version can be reviewed online, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SPM.pdf.
Climate Change Q/A is produced by Heidi Harting-Rex, an avid climate change reader, and Rosie Ferguson, a graduate of the University of Montana Journalism School with a minor in Climate Change Studies.
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