IPCC climate change report headline via AFP: Scientists warn it’s now or never to limit global warming – The boss of the United Nations has erupted at world leaders as scientists warn the planet is in peril unless urgent action is taken.
UN Claim: “Humans have less than three years to halt the rise of planet-warming carbon emissions and less than a decade to slash them by nearly half, UN climate experts said. … It’s a last-gasp race to ensure the world has a “liveable future”.
“It’s now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5C,” said Jim Skea, a professor at Imperial College London and co-chair of the working group behind the report.
Climate Depot Response: “‘Now or Never’ again?! Easy choice, NEVER!” See: Earth ‘serially doomed’: The official history of climate ‘Tipping Points’ began in 1864
AFP: UN Claim: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “Some government and business leaders are saying one thing, but doing another. Simply put: They are lying. And the results will be catastrophic.”
Greenpeace co-founder Dr. Patrick Moore: “Absolutely nothing in this IPCC report is true. It is all fake and threatens the existence of civilization, especially the West because the East and the South don’t buy it. We must reject it or face the consequences. Celebrate CO2!!”
UN Claim: “The IPCC made clear that individuals can also make a big difference…Cutting back on long-haul flights, switching to plant-based diets, climate-proofing buildings and other ways of cutting the consumption”
Climate Depot Response: “Ignore the UN’s promotion of energy lockdowns to ‘fight’ climate change. More restrictions on plentiful energy to turn peoples’ lives into micromanaged deprivation all in the service of some cultish climate goals. See: Intl Energy Agency report urges ENERGY LOCKDOWNS: ‘Banning use of private cars on Sundays…Reducing highway speed limits…more working from home…cutting business air travel’ & SUV ‘tax’
Climate Depot Response: “Let’s rework Boiko’s claim into a true statement: Accurate revision: “The money, that we begged the U.S. & Europe not to invest in unreliable solar and wind that produces very little energy compared to fossil fuels, is now flying over our heads in the form of bombs because Europe and the U.S. had to rely on Russia’s fossil fuels and thus fund Putin’s war machine.”
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Full article from AFB below:
AFP: The UN has blasted “lying” politicians, as it reports the world is rapidly running out of time to avoid the “catastrophic” impacts of climate change.
Humans have less than three years to halt the rise of planet-warming carbon emissions and less than a decade to slash them by nearly half, UN climate experts said.
It’s a last-gasp race to ensure the world has a “liveable future”.
And it’s a daunting task that is – only just – still possible.
But current policies are leading the planet towards “catastrophic” temperature rises, with politicians and business leaders coming under fire for “lying” about the action they are taking to deal with climate change, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “Some government and business leaders are saying one thing, but doing another. Simply put: They are lying. And the results will be catastrophic.”
Future of the world in the balance
The 2800-page report is by far the most comprehensive assessment of how to halt global heating ever produced.
But it also documents “a litany of broken climate promises”, Mr Guterres said in a blistering rebuke of governments and industry.
The world’s nations, the report said, are taking our future right to the wire.
In recent months, the IPCC published the first two instalments in a trilogy of mammoth scientific assessments covering how greenhouse gas emissions are heating the planet and what that means for life on Earth.
This third report outlines what we can do about it.
“We are at a crossroads,” IPCC chief Hoesung Lee said.
“The decisions we make now can secure a liveable future. We have the tools and know-how required to limit warming.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said these tools “are firmly within our grasp”.
“Nations of the world must be brave enough to use them,” he said.
The solutions touch on virtually all aspects of modern life, require significant investment and need “immediate action”, the IPCC said.
The very first item on the global to-do list is to stop greenhouse gas emissions from rising any further.
“It’s now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5C,” said Jim Skea, a professor at Imperial College London and co-chair of the working group behind the report.
“Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible.”
Slashing coal, oil, gas
To do that, the world must radically reduce the fossil fuels which are responsible for the lion’s share of emissions.
Nations should stop burning coal completely and cut oil and gas use by 60 and 70 per cent respectively to keep within the Paris goals, the IPCC said, noting that both solar and wind were now cheaper than fossil fuels in many places.
But just cutting emissions is no longer enough, the IPCC said.
Technologies to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere – not yet operating to scale – will need to be ramped up enormously.
While government policies, investments and regulations will propel emissions cuts, the IPCC made clear that individuals can also make a big difference.
Cutting back on long-haul flights, switching to plant-based diets, climate-proofing buildings and other ways of cutting the consumption that drives energy demand could reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 to 70 per cent by 2050.
Those with the most, also pollute the most, the report said. Households whose income is in the top 10 per cent globally – two-thirds of whom are in developed countries – emit up to 45 per cent of carbon pollution.
“Individuals with high socio-economic status contribute disproportionately to emissions and have the highest potential for emissions reductions – as citizens, investors, consumers, role models and professionals,” the IPCC said.
With war in Ukraine spurring efforts to transition away from Russian oil and gas in the West, observers said the report should sharpen nations’ focus on climate commitments.
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“It is heartbreaking for me, as a Ukrainian climate activist, to be living through a war which has fossil fuel money at its core,” Olha Boiko, an activist from the Climate Action Network, based in Ukraine, said.
“The money, that we begged not to invest in dirty energy, is now flying over our heads in the form of bombs.”
