Recent Reports from the IPCC and IEA
Scientific Reports from the United Nations and the International Energy Agency about the Climate and Ecological Emergencies
The 2023 Synthesis Report from the IPCC states:
humans are responsible for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years. The rate of temperature rise in the last half century is the highest in 2,000 years. Concentrations of carbon dioxide are at their highest in at least 2 million years.
In order to stay below 1.5 degrees C heating, leaders of developed countries must commit to reaching net-zero as close as possible to 2040, the limit they should all aim to respect.This can be done. Some have already set a target as early as 2035.”
Leaders in emerging economies must commit to reaching net-zero as close as possible to 2050 — again, the limit they should all aim to respect.
The 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report (IPCC) states:
societies need to cut oil, coal, and “natural” gas emissions in half by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050 in order to keep global heating below 1.5 degrees C, considered the safe zone.
In 2023, nations who are contributing the most to climate change are being asked to reach net zero by 2040.
Report stated that "it's now or never." And that we've arrived at "nothing less than a code red for humanity," which must "sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels before they destroy our planet." New research has shown the possibility of human extinction has been “dangerously underexplored.”
We are already reaching extremes at 1.2 degrees C heating that weren’t expected until 2050. Some climate scientists reports:
the IPCC is too conservative and we have less time than governments think to reach net zero
we’ve already exhausted our carbon budget and need to stop burning now
findings were misintrepted and we can’t keep burning until 2025. The IPCC report didn’t take into account the earth’s tipping points, or positive feedback mechanisms, that once reached, will result in runaway heating that is outside of human control.
Fatih Birol, the International Energy Agency’s executive director and energy economists said:
“If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now – from this year.”
The 2019 Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Report from the UN states:
one million species of plants and animals are at risk of going extinct within a few decades because of the effects of human activity.
Deforestation, overfishing, toxic pollution, pesticide use, and global heating from the burning of fossil fuels are wreaking havoc on the environment.
The report says that the destruction of biodiversity will pose significant threats to humans. It will affect human’s access to food, clean drinking water, clean air, and cause disease and parasites to spread more quickly.
The 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released a Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse gas fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems states:
our societies are abusing the land leading to increasing desertification, deforestation, and poor soil health. The results of this include risk to staple crops which could result in major famines and millions of climate refugees seeking asylum because of unlivable conditions.
The 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a second Special Report on oceans and cryosphere.
The report finds that urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions, restoring ecosystems, and managing the use of natural resources will make it possible to preserve the ocean and cryosphere that sustain life on earth.
“The ocean has been acting like a sponge, absorbing heat and carbon dioxide to regulate global temperatures, but it can’t keep up,” IPCC vice chair Ko Barrett said at a press conference. “The world’s oceans and cryosphere have been taking the heat of climate change for decades. The consequences for nature and humanity are sweeping and severe.”
Tipping points
A tipping point is a critical threshold that, when crossed, leads to large and often irreversible changes in the climate system. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, limiting global heating to below 1.5 °C will be impossible. Once tipping points are triggered they will accelerate heating and earth will spiral into “runaway heating” that is outside of humanity’s control, leading us into what climate scientists call an “uninhabitable hothouse Earth.” Research shows that we may have already triggered some tipping points at only 1 degree C heating.
Examples of tipping points include the Greenland ice sheet melting (the ice sheet contains enough water to raise global sea levels by over 20 feet and its melting is accelerating), the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Amazon rainforest die off, and thawing permafrost which releases methane, a planet warming gas, into the atmosphere.
More reading
Common Dreams, Scientists Say Net Zero by 2050 Is Too Late
Climate Crisis Advisory Group, Net zero by 2050 is “too little too late”: world-leading scientists urge global leaders to focus on net negative strategies
The Guardian, World close to ‘irreversible’ climate breakdown, warn major studies
The Guardian, Climate endgame: risk of human extinction ‘dangerously underexplored’