IPCC’s New Climate Report: What Does It Mean?

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its sixth annual climate report on Monday. This time, the message comes as a definitive wake up call: Earth’s temperature will continue to rise, and our window to mitigate climate catastrophe is closing fast.

Helping break down the highlights of the IPCC’s report, Miriam Nielsen, a climate science Ph.D. student at Columbia University, made this 7.5-minute video explaining how the report works, and its key takeaways.

In the video, Nielsen mentions an interesting difference between previous reports and this latest release: the language. She points out how the word “unequivocal” is used to describe human activities’ link to Earth’s warming.

“This is a big deal because normally the IPCC sticks to more cautious language like ‘medium’ or ‘high confidence’, which is still their primary way of expressing uncertainty,” says Nielsen. “But where the science is definitive, they’re letting it be definitive.”

What Does Warming Look Like?

Rising temperatures mean we can expect to see even more severe weather, more often.

”Right now, extreme heat events occur nearly five times as often as they did historically. With a 1.5° rise, we’re looking at nine times as often, and at 2°, 14 times as often,” explains Nielsen. The same holds true for fires, droughts, heavy rain, and flooding.

Higher temperatures also increase the likelihood of “compound extreme events”, meaning two or more disasters happening simultaneously or consecutively.

“What they’re [the IPCC] basically saying here is these dangerous, rare events, well, they’re not going to be so rare anymore. And while one extreme event can already stress many places’ emergency management systems, resources and response, adding another one on top of that can be devastating,” says Nielsen.

What Do We Do?

This report might sound bleak, or even make you anxious about the future. If it does, you’re not alone. The good news is we already know how to prevent further warming. The only catch: we need to act now.

“Every fraction of a degree of warming avoided, every push for cleaner air and water, will reduce the number of people and places impacted,” concludes Nielsen.

Faced with this knowledge, how will you start building sustainable solutions into your home or business?

The alarm bells are ringing, it’s time to make sustainability a priority.