The cost of ending the climate crisis is small, the IPCC concludes.
“With adequate funding, nature could provide up to one-third of cost-effective carbon cuts, as well as protecting and restoring the vital natural ecosystems that sustained life on earth, said Bronson Griscom, at Conservation International. But it warns this cannot compensate for any delay in cutting fossil fuel burning and must involve Indigenous peoples, who are the best guardians of wild places. Protecting and restoring nature can deliver both large-scale cuts in emissions by ending the razing of forests and large-scale removal of CO 2 from the atmosphere through growing trees, the IPCC report says. “The evidence also shows that these lifestyle changes can improve our health and wellbeing.” “Having the right policies, infrastructure and technology in place to enable changes to our lifestyles and behaviour can result in a 40-70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – significant untapped potential,” said Prof Priyadarshi Shukla, another IPCC co-chair.
All these are popular with people, the IPCC notes. It also strongly highlights the big potential impact from energy-efficient homes, walking and cycling, greener diets and less food waste. The IPCC spells out the huge cost reductions over the last decade in solar and wind power and says that some countries already have electricity grids predominantly powered by renewables. “But every moment, every policy, every investment, every decision matters to avoid further climate chaos.” “We know what we need to do and we can do a lot of it already,” said Stephen Cornelius of WWF. That is the good news in the new IPCC report. “It is time to stop burning our planet, and start investing in the abundant renewable energy all around us.”Ġ2:17 World on 'fast track to climate disaster', says UN secretary general – video “Increasing fossil fuel production will only make matters worse,” he said. Responding to the report, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, had a savage assessment of current political and corporate pledges of action: “Some government and business leaders are saying one thing, but doing another. The IPCC warns fossil fuel investors they are on track to lose trillions of dollars if governments act as they must. More projects will lock in even greater emissions and our journey to climate hell. The IPCC states that existing and currently planned fossil fuel projects are already more than the climate can handle. The implication for the biggest culprit, fossil fuels, is clear: it’s over. “Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible.” “It’s now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5C,” said Prof Jim Skea, a co-chair of the report. Its text was therefore haggled over furiously by those states with much to lose.īut the conclusion is no less stark: a century of rising emissions must end before 2025 to keep global heating under 1.5C, beyond which severe impacts will increase further, hurting billions of people. Rather than plainly stating the scale of the climate emergency, the new assessment spells out what needs to be done. The language of the third part of the IPCC’s report is less dramatic than the first two, which placed “unequivocal” blame on us for putting a “livable future” in grave peril.
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