United Nations climate experts are meeting from Monday in Switzerland to adopt the synthesis of their 6th assessment report, a summary of more than 10,000 pages published in recent years on global warming and on the necessary response of humanity.
Scheduled until March 17 in Interlaken, Switzerland, this session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is due to conclude on March 20 with the long-awaited publication of this summary, which will represent the latest scientific consensus. on the climate.
The whole challenge is to achieve, in a form that everyone can understand, a "
summary for decision-makers
" of the sum of the work carried out by the IPCC during its 6th evaluation cycle, which began in 2015.
Major fulcrum
The Giec, created in 1988, does not carry out studies, but hundreds of experts and researchers synthesize the existing scientific literature, in order to present the possible options to political decision-makers.
These texts will be a major point of support for civil society, which has its sights set on the COP28 meeting in December in Dubai, where a first global assessment of the countries' commitments to meet the Paris objectives is expected. .
“
The facts show that we are not yet doing enough to respond to this crisis, with current emissions still at the highest level in human history
,” commented Stephanie Roe, a scientific officer of the WWF, she -same author in one of the reports.
"
We are a long way off and the window to limit warming to +1.5°C is rapidly closing
”, but “
science also clearly shows that the solutions are within our reach
”, she added.
"
This must be the last report to cause consternation instead of action against fossil fuels
," said Shaye Wolf, from the US NGO Center for Biological Diversity.
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The final synthesis of this 6th report will consist of two texts.
The first will be a summary, in about fifty pages, of the three main sections published in 2021 and 2022 - on the physical evidence of global warming, on its impacts and finally on mitigation measures - and three special reports (on the consequences of a warming of +1.5°C, on the oceans and the cryosphere, and on the emerged lands).
The second, of about ten pages, will be the “
summary for decision makers
”, a highly political text which must be approved line by line by the delegates of the 195 member countries.
What are these texts for?
They will be the scientific basis for the efforts of humanity and its political leaders to meet the objectives of the Paris agreement: to contain global warming well below 2°C and, if possible, to 1.5°C compared to in the pre-industrial era.
This limit seems difficult to reach, the current trajectories tending towards a much more pronounced warming.
The world is now at almost 1.2°C.