The globe discusses the latest IPCC report with polar scientist and meteorology professor Michael Tjernstrom and professor Line Gordon who is director of the Stockholm Resilience Center and professor of sustainable development.
This decade will be decisive in being able to limit warming to 1.5 degrees and the measures taken now may have consequences for the near future even a thousand years ahead.
This is stated by the UN climate panel IPCC in the new major report, the “synthesis report” which summarizes the reports of recent years.
Five important conclusions in the report:
1. It is man’s emission of greenhouse gases, from the burning of fossil fuels, which is the cause of global warming, which is now 1.1 degrees compared to pre-industrial times. It is unequivocal according to the IPCC.
2. The consequences are already here with extensive changes in the climate, in the oceans, on polar ice caps and glaciers and the habitats we live in. It has already led to extreme weather and other negative effects around the Earth. The effects are worse than what the IPCC indicated in the previous report, which came nine years ago. It is a threat to human and earth health. The emissions that have already taken place mean that sea levels have risen by half a meter globally, that nature and people have been affected and that it has become more difficult to supply food and water in parts of the world. Poor countries in the south are worst affected.
3. It is likely that warming will exceed 1.5 degrees this century because countries’ actions are insufficient. Emissions must begin to reverse immediately and go down to zero by 2050. But emissions are still increasing. And the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted to cope with 1.5 degrees, the carbon dioxide budget, is over this decade if emissions continue as they are now. Current extraction of fossil fuels cracks the chance of coping with 1.5 degrees. There is still more investment in the extraction of fossil fuels than in climate measures and climate adaptation.
4. It is still possible to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. But the window is closing fast to secure a sustainable future for all. Presumably, the warming will exceed that, but with measures that reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it can be lowered again.
What we do this decade has consequences for thousands of years to come. Every decimal point less makes a big difference in how serious the consequences will be both in the near term and in the longer term.
5. The solutions exist. Both to adapt to the changing climate and measures to limit warming. But extensive and rapid measures are required and the pace must increase. It is about greatly reducing the use of fossil fuels.
The measures that are cheapest and have the greatest potential for emission reductions are more solar and wind energy and reducing methane emissions from the extraction and production of fossil fuels.
Natural remedies also have great potential. It is about limiting the exploitation of natural ecosystems, increasing carbon storage in agriculture and restoring ecosystems, such as wetlands and mangroves for example, and preventing deforestation and also reforestation. Other low-cost measures behavioral changes: switching to electric vehicles, more public transport and cycling and more energy conservation, energy efficiency.
Cast:
Michael Tjernstrompolar researcher and professor of boundary layer meteorology at Stockholm University. Line Gordonprofessor of sustainable development at Stockholm University and head of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University. Daniel Varjรถreporter at Klotet.
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Host: Niklas Zachrisson
Producer: Anna-Karin Ivarsson
Source: ICELAND NEWS