At a time when Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels is being highlighted by the war in Ukraine, the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has released the final part of its assessment, which serves as a wake-up call for world leaders. It calls for an acceleration of climate policies by 2025 and, above all, for a 50 percent reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030!
The latest warning from scientists, who have once again demonstrated that human activity is driving climate change and that urgent action is needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C and avoid an apocalyptic scenario.
While several countries, including France, have been condemned for «climate inaction,», And while greenwashing is rampant in the communications of the companies with the highest CO2 emissions, this latest report offers solutions to policymakers. «The Summary for Policymakers (SPM) provides a high-level summary of the current understanding of the state of the climate, including how it is changing and the role of human influence, as well as the state of knowledge on possible climate futures, climate information relevant to regions and sectors, and limiting human-induced climate change.» (From IPCC Report 6)
According to Arnaud Gauffier, program manager at the WWF France :
« The IPCC report once again illustrates the scale and speed of the changes observed, which in some cases even exceed the IPCC’s previous projections. The goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require colossal and urgent efforts to change public policies and our lifestyles. To bring France’s emissions in line with a 1.5°C target, we would need, for example, to phase out internal combustion engines in passenger cars as quickly as possible, eliminate domestic air travel, drastically limit international flights, reduce our individual meat consumption by nearly three-quarters, limit our purchases of new clothing to 1 kg per year per person, and implement massive building retrofit programs. Unfortunately, the recently adopted climate law shows that France still has a long way to go on these issues. The measures the government announces at the IUCN World Conservation Congress and at COP 26 will be decisive in determining whether the government has finally grasped the urgency of the situation. »
We have known for a long time that without a rigorous climate policy and the commitment of everyone—especially policymakers—humanity is exposing itself and nature to terrible and irreversible upheavals. Young people taking to the streets, climate marches, the “Case of the Century,” and all the NGOs working to raise awareness— while they deserve credit for encouraging citizens to adopt different energy habits, will not be enough to bring about a lasting change in the ultra-liberal economic model that has led humanity to the brink of this abyss.
Nathalie Laulé
To learn more, read the report, and see the data our policymakers have at their disposal, here is the full report: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/
