Climate change: a threat to the planet

Climate change is a threat to the world’s population and Earth’s ecosystems, according to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a scientific organization promoted by the United Nations that analyzes the evolution of the climate and its effects on the planet.

The disappearance of ecosystems, the extinction of species, extreme heat waves and floods will become more frequent and will endanger more than 3 billion people living in vulnerable areas over the next two decades (almost half of the world’s population).

The new IPCC report has been launched 100 days after COP26, the Glasgow Climate Summit, where governments around the world were unable to reach an agreement that was forceful enough to curb climate change.

Faced with this scenario, scientists are increasingly clear: climate change is a very serious threat to the well-being and health of the entire planet, and human activity is responsible for it. There is no point in taking half-hearted measures: real policies must be implemented to ban fossil fuels, limit greenhouse gas emissions and reduce pollution of the planet.

To do this, it is essential to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement: to reduce the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century. According to scientific studies, it is necessary to reduce emissions by 45% by 2030 and achieve zero emissions or neutral emissions by 2050. However, the reality is far from this goal: with the current pace of production, emissions are expected to increase by 14% this decade.

For this reason, the United Nations calls on governments to commit to decarbonizing the economy and betting on the energy transition to renewable energy sources.

Adaptation to save lives

Another key point in the IPCC report is adaptation: the set of measures to limit the climate crisis and reduce its consequences. Even if emissions of polluting gases are reduced, the effects of climate change will continue for years to come, so it is important to adapt to survive.

One of the main adaptation measures involves the transfer of crops to ensure their survival. Changing weather patterns have reduced rainfall and increased temperatures, directly influencing crop production.

Other adaptation measures include the construction of buildings more resistant to natural disasters or the development of prevention plans to react more quickly and efficiently. In addition, adaptation can be combined with other mitigation measures to limit emissions.

The problem is that not all countries have access to these measures. When it comes to adapting to combat the effects of climate change, poor countries are the most affected because they do not have the resources to implement them.

These countries have contributed the least to global pollution, but suffer the most from its consequences. That’s why the United Nations is also calling on investment banks and companies around the world to finance more sustainable projects in developing countries, which still rely on fossil fuels to sustain their economies.

The role of the IPCC

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) brings together hundreds of scientists from different countries, specialized in different fields of conservation and the environment.

This group was created by the United Nations in 1988 to provide objective and scientific information on climate change, its effects and impacts. The data provided by the IPCC serve to assess the climate situation and define the actions to be taken.

In that sense, the IPCC reports are the main academic and scientific tool to support the fight against climate change and respond to denialist theories that deny its threat.

To provide rigorous and detailed information, IPCC scientists work over 7-year periods, during which they collect and analyze millions of data to draw proven conclusions about the advance of global warming and how life conditions are changing on our planet.

Source: The Vanguard