Climate Change: UN warns it’s “now or never”

“It’s now or never,” Jim Skea said as he presented the new report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), stressing that this is the time to act to slow the spread of global warming.

“We left COP26 in Glasgow with naïve optimism, based on new promises and commitments,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in the presentation.

“But current climate pledges would still mean a 14% increase in emissions. And most major emitters are not taking the necessary steps to deliver on even these inadequate promises, “he added.

Currently, global emissions are on track to reach about 3.2°C by the end of the century. Therefore, the report highlights that only severe emissions cuts in the next ten years in all sectors will allow to change course.

But even if these measures were implemented, governments would still have to step up their efforts to plant more trees and develop technologies that could remove some of the carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere. Increase cuts

Unlike other opportunities, the report, the latest in a three-part IPCC series, highlighted some of the actions needed to contain global warming at 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures.

One of the most controversial warnings was that the development of sustainable fuels will not be enough to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, so consumer energy demand will have to be reduced.

Daniel Quiggin, an environmental researcher at the UK policy institute Chatham House, explained that “accepting a lower-consumption lifestyle is almost the only fast-acting political move we have left to prevent the disastrous impacts of climate change.”

According to the report, “demand-side mitigation” could be achieved through measures such as investing in bike lanes and public transportation while blocking cars in cities.

For the UN, this goal could negatively impact countries’ economic growth, but the losses would be offset by the benefits of preventing extreme climate change.

In addition, the IPCC highlighted that protecting forests, changing eating habits and modifying agricultural methods could contribute to around a quarter of greenhouse gas cuts.

In 2019, about 22% of global emissions came from agriculture, forestry and other land-use sectors. Of this figure, about half resulted from deforestation.

In this sense, the protection of forests against logging or more sustainable diets, including the reduction of meat consumption, could provide between 20% and 30% of the emission reductions needed to limit the temperature to 1.5 °C.

Cities, an ace up their sleeve

One of the most innovative ideas in the report was that cities, which are big drivers of emissions, could play an important role in combating climate change.

In 2020, metropolises were responsible for up to 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions, up from 62% in 2015.

Among some of the measures to be implemented, those taken by London, which introduced tariffs for highly polluting vehicles, and Paris, which banned diesel cars, stand out.

In addition, energy efficiency in buildings could be improved, streets could be designed to avoid traffic congestion and more parks and trees could be incorporated.

On the other hand, considering that 55% of the world’s population lived in cities in 2018, a figure that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050, it will be important to avoid rural and suburban expansion.

Greater cooperation from the financial world is needed

Another of the most controversial conclusions was that, according to the IPCC, despite the fact that the world “is flooded with money”, not enough is spent to prevent climate change.

In this sense, investment in the matter would have to increase up to six times from the US $ 640,000 million spent in 2020, which would represent a small part of the world economic production, which totaled about US $ 84 billion that same year.

In addition, policies are needed that eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, and allow tax breaks for clean energy and financing to develop low-carbon projects and technologies.

Precisely, the UN warned that the relatively slow implementation of the commitments by countries would be related to the pressure exerted by some fuel and automobile producing industries.

Source: The Economist