Climate change: “Limited” time to avert the worst

Created: 2022-02-09 14:03

With the devastating changes in climate and biodiversity, can humans also be agents of change in a positive sense?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will examine this question in its next report.

© Marcus Brandt/dpa

Scientists estimate that people could still avert the devastating consequences of climate change.

But the window of opportunity could close very quickly.

Geneva - With the devastating changes in climate and biodiversity, can humans also be agents of change in a positive sense?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will examine this question in its next report.

People still have room for manoeuvre, said marine biologist Hans-Otto Pörtner from the Alfred Wegener Institute on Wednesday.

"But there is only a limited period of time in which successful action can be initiated." This decade is of crucial importance.

Pörtner is co-chair of the IPCC working group that is releasing its report on February 28 on the impacts of climate change, the vulnerability of nature and humans, and ways people can prepare and adapt.

It is the second of three parts of the current sixth assessment report on the climate.

In August 2021, the first part on the scientific basis of climate change stated that global warming of 1.5 degrees, which governments do not want to exceed after the climate agreement, is likely to be reached in the next 20 years.

Significantly higher warming would have catastrophic consequences.

Big transformation

what has to happen

"We are talking about a major social transformation that is not yet so clearly visible," said Pörtner in a briefing by the German Climate Consortium, the association of German research institutions in the field of climate research.

The new report dovetails better than before the challenges posed by climate change and loss of biodiversity, as well as changes such as urbanization and the growing inequality between poor and rich people, Pörtner said.

In concrete terms, it is more important than ever for politicians to address social compensation at the same time as measures such as levying a CO2 tax.

"Then the social discussion would run better and not everyone would just talk about the fact that fuel is becoming more expensive."

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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a UN body.

Therefore, starting next week, all UN countries will be discussing a 30-page paper that is intended to summarize the scientific proposals.

Of course there are conflicts of interest, said Pörtner.

Efforts by producers of fossil fuels to downplay the risks are conceivable.

Possible measures to mitigate the consequences of climate change in arid regions are also likely to be discussed controversially.

Regions and neighboring countries that lie on the same river or glacier often have different interests.

dpa