0
0
The UN climate panel IPCC members have embarked on a lengthy meeting on their following report. In it, the climate scientists extensively discuss the consequences of climate change, our vulnerability to it, and how humanity can adapt to global warming.
Scientific knowledge about the impact of climate change is ” essential” to bring “a planet without pollution” closer, UN Environment Agency (UNEP) chief Inger Andersen said at the opening ceremony.
The so-called Working Group II work should culminate in one of the most important climate reports of this year. The German Minister of Education and Science, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, acknowledged its importance during the opening. “The IPCC reports are our gold standard,” she said. “We all rely on it.”
During the opening, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) boss, Petteri Taalas, emphasized the importance of limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees compared to the time before industrialization. According to him, achieving that goal hangs by a thread.
Taalas hopes for the next climate summit, to be held in Egypt in November, for higher ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Those emissions are “undeniably” the main cause of global warming, the IPCC already established last summer.
Due to the corona pandemic, the discussions will be held online and will last until February 25. The report is expected to be published on the 28th. Government representatives are also taking part in the talks. They discuss with the climate scientists the summary for policymakers, which summarizes the main conclusions of the comprehensive report. The text is discussed sentence by sentence, and the scientists always have the last word. In this way, governments commit themselves to the content of IPCC reports.
Hundreds of climate experts from around the world contribute to the influential reports of the IPCC. The latest report, published last summer, described in an alarming way how quickly climate change is happening. The limit of 1.5 degrees warming can be reached in the next 20 years. However, due to the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, humans have already increased the temperature on earth by an average of 1.1 degrees, according to the IPCC.
