On Monday April 4th 2022 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest report on the climate crisis facing humanity — Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change.
Echoing its February 28th 2022 report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, this IPCC report is an emergency call for immediate, dramatic reductions in Greenhouse Gas emissions, absent which humanity will not survive.
The report is full of alarming facts, including:
- Net Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions have increased since 2010 across all major sectors globally. Emissions reductions in CO2 from fossil fuels and industrial processes, have been less than emissions increases from rising global activity levels in industry, energy supply, transport, agriculture and buildings.
- Without a strengthening of policies beyond those implemented by the end of 2020, GHG emissions are projected to rise beyond 2025, leading to a median global warming of 3.2 [2.2 to 3.5] °C by 2100.
- Reducing GHG emissions across the full energy sector requires major transitions, including a substantial reduction in overall fossil fuel use, the deployment of low-emission energy sources, switching to alternative energy carriers, and energy efficiency and conservation.
The bottom line, according to the report, is that we have only until 2030, not the earlier established date of 2050, to cut our GHG emissions by more than half.
As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres summarized succinctly in a video message on the launch of this report, “We are on a fast track to climate disaster. ”Introducing its findings, Mr. Guterres urged listeners to imagine a future where the emergency continues unchecked — a world increasingly harrowed by blistering heatwaves, terrifying storms, widespread water shortages, and mass extinctions of plants and animals – adding, ““This is not fiction or exaggeration. It is what science tells us will result from our current energy policies.”
The Canadian government, meanwhile, has been releasing its own equally grim reports, warning that current efforts to adapt to climate change are inadequate while “the window for taking action to reduce increasingly severe impacts is rapidly closing.”
In Canada this means more floods, droughts, and wildfires of both increasing severity and cost.
Indigenous communities often inhabit areas that are particularly vulnerable to cataclysmic extreme weather.
It is becoming increasing certain that we may have already passed the tipping point – with negative feedback loops kicking in and leading to a runaway increase in global temperatures.
However, the IPCC report also notes some positive developments which may moderate this critical path. A number of governments and corporations, including Canada, are beginning to move in more positive directions.
The IPCC and Mr. Guterres also stressed at the April 4th launch of the report that Indigenous people are leading the fight to mitigate those impacts, reduce carbon emissions, and transition to green energy.
It is possible that we have not yet passed a tipping point and do have time — although a very short period of time — to avert extinction.
We must demand that governments at all three levels immediately tackle the crisis that humanity is facing with the same kind of decisive resolve that defeated fascism almost 80 years ago.
Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]
Latest daily total (April 7, 2022): 420.85ppm
One year ago (April 7, 2021): 418.46 pm
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