‘Climate Time Bomb is Ticking’: The UN climate report and its findings explained

“The climate time bomb is ticking,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned as a major report on climate change was released on Monday (20 March). Guterres said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s synthesis report should be viewed as a “survival guide for humanity”. The 37-page report says there is a possibility that the world will not meet the target of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels – a key goal of the Paris climate agreement of 2015. However, this can be avoided if urgent action is taken in the coming seven years. The document highlights that around half the global population was already vulnerable to disastrous climate impacts. What is the IPCC’s synthesis report? What are its findings and what can be done? Let’s take a closer look. IPCC’s synthesis report IPCC is a body comprising the world’s leading climate scientists that recommends the UN on surging temperatures. On Monday, the IPCC released its synthesis report — the fourth and last installment of the sixth assessment report (AR6). This IPCC report sums up the five previous reports released between 2018 and 2022 and marks the end of IPCC’s sixth assessment cycle that began in 2015, according to Indian Express. It is the sixth IPCC report since the body was established in 1988, reported The Guardian. The synthesis document condensed earlier findings of reports that explored the physical science, impacts, and mitigation of climate change. [caption id=“attachment_12325962” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Once the temperature rise overshoots the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit, there can be irreversible damage, the report has warned. AP[/caption] This report is a “summary for policymakers” that reduces “thousands of pages of climate science in six mammoth reports published since 2014”, says Reuters. The development comes after a week-long session in Switzerland’s Interlaken which was attended by representatives of the UN’s nearly 200 countries to approve the final text. The document will serve as a guide at the next UN climate summit, COP28, slated to be hosted by the United Arab Emirates in Dubai from 30 November. At the summit, the progress of nations on bringing down greenhouse gas emissions since the 2015 Paris climate agreement will be assessed, as per The Guardian. Countries are also expected to update climate pledges by 2025 under the Paris agreement. What are the UN report findings? The synthesis report, written by several scientists, recapitulates the earlier findings of the IPCC that it is “unequivocal” that humanity is responsible for climate change. The report offers a stark warning of global temperatures from breaching the 1.5 degrees Celsius mark. The findings noted that the world has already warmed by 1.1 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial times, and the 1.5 degrees Celsius mark was “more likely than not” to be reached in the “near term”. “It has always been clear in the IPCC and in climate science, that it’s not very likely that we always will stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius,” Dr Oliver Geden, from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and a member of the report’s core writing team, told BBC. Once this 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold is crossed, “the risks are starting to pile on,” co-author of the report Francis X Johnson, a climate, land and policy scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute, said, as per AP. ALSO READ: The countries most vulnerable to climate change: Where does India stand? As the temperature rise overshoots the 1.5 degree limit, there can be irreversible damage such as the extinction of species, including coral reefs, melting of ice sheets as well a rise in sea level by several metres, reported AP. “The synthesis report says that by 2030 there is a 50 per cent chance that global surface temperature in any single year could exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius. The modelling shows that it is theoretically possible to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but the current scale, scope and pace of global action, pledged until 2030, is not enough. We are not on track, and the report reiterates this,” Professor Joyashree Roy, one of the 93 authors of the synthesis report, was quoted as saying by Indian Express. The authors of the report say that the climate crisis continues to hit poorer, vulnerable countries harder even though they have little hand in causing it, noted CNN.

They also underscore the impact of a warming climate on mental health.

“The choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts for thousands of years,” the IPCC synthesis report said, describing climate change as “a threat to human well-being and planetary health”, as per Associated Press (AP). “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all,” the scientists said in the report. As per PTI, the scientists said in the findings that “10 per cent of households with the highest emissions per person contribute 34-45 per cent of all household emissions, while the bottom 50 per cent contribute just 13 to 15 per cent.” The report also focused on the huge role of fossil fuels in catapulting global warming. Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas account for over 80 per cent of the world’s energy and 75 per cent of human-generated pollution, as per CNN.  What actions can be taken? All is not lost yet and governments around the world can work to stave off the catastrophic impacts of climate change. The synthesis report emphasises on slashing greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half by 2030 if the world wants to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The world needs to slash 60 per cent of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, say the scientists. Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN, has called on all countries to advance their net zero plans by a decade and put a break on new fossil fuel exploration, as per AP. These targets are intended to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that warm Earth’s atmosphere. [caption id=“attachment_12325992” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The governments can work to stave off the catastrophic impacts of climate change. AP (Representational Image)[/caption] Guterres urged developed countries to commit to reaching net zero emissions by around 2040, much before the 2050 deadline agreed upon by several countries including the United States and the United Kingdom. “Humanity is on thin ice — and that ice is melting fast,” he said.

“Our world needs climate action on all fronts — everything, everywhere, all at once.”

As per AP, IPCC chair Hoesung Lee said: “If the world is to achieve its climate goals, poorer countries need a three-to-six times increase in financial help to adapt to a warmer world and switch to non-polluting energy”. India needs to bring its future development in sync with its climate objectives, Professor Roy told Indian Express. “It is especially important for India as we have a large number of vulnerable populations, low-income groups, informal settlements in urban cities, and outdoor workers,” Professor Roy said, as per PTI.  Furthermore, the IPCC has also underlined using clean energy and technology to mitigate the increasing climate risks. The report said that the technology required to adapt to climate change and reduce harmful emissions is available. “Mainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages for nature and people, it will also provide wider benefits,” Lee said in a statement, as per NBC News. The report “shows that, if we act now, we can still secure a liveable sustainable future for all.” With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .