IPCC Sixth Assessment Report on Climate Change

Human activity is changing the way climate is developing in many irreversible ways. It is necessary to make changes to whilst is possible. Extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding are impacting countries and people directly, with many destroyed houses and unfortunate deaths. Even though the past cannot be changed, future catastrophes can still be avoided. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is “code red for humanity” as said by UN chief and to put a stop in these, this report is working for better change. Dr Friederike Otto from the University of Oxford, and one of the many authors on the UN's report said, "Climate change is not a problem of the future, it's here and now and affecting every region in the world".

The IPCC was developed by the United Nations, englobing 195 member countries, to provide assessment on the science related to climate change. It was created to aid UN bodies and policymakers develop and adapt to any phenomenon, by completing regular scientific assessments on climate change, indicating potential future risks and proposing mitigation options. With this, the IPCC can determine the state of knowledge on climate change and identifies where future research is needed, which is then outsourced to other corporations.

The most recent report – the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) – delivers the most up-to-date research on the climate system and climate change and combines the latest advances in the science related to it. The Summary for Policymakers outlines the key findings of the Working Group I (WGI) on the physical science basis of climate change, build upon the Fifth Assessment Report from 2013.

The IPCC report key points, outlined by BBC News, are:

Global surface temperature was 1.09C higher in the decade between 2011-2020 than between 1850-1900.
The past five years have been the hottest on record since 1850
The recent rate of sea level rise has nearly tripled compared with 1901-1971
Human influence is "very likely" (90%) the main driver of the global retreat of glaciers since the 1990s and the decrease in Arctic sea-ice
It is "virtually certain" that hot extremes including heatwaves have become more frequent and more intense since the 1950s, while cold events have become less frequent and less severe

It is fundamental to understand that the main driver of these factors is human influence. As mentioned above, the impact on glaciers is most likely to be caused by humans, by 90%.

Essentially, at the rate climate is changing, BBC News reports the following as the main five future impacts:

Temperatures will reach 1.5C above 1850-1900 levels by 2040 under all emissions scenarios
The Arctic is likely to be practically ice-free in September at least once before 2050 in all scenarios assessed
There will be an increasing occurrence of some extreme events "unprecedented in the historical record" even at warming of 1.5C
Extreme sea level events that occurred once a century in the recent past are projected to occur at least annually at more than half of tidal gauge locations by 2100
There will be likely increases in fire weather in many regions

Unfortunately, the report shows that, sea water levels will continue to rise independently on what we do. In the worst cases, this could mean that sea-levels could rise in meters by 2150, which is not that far from now. But even if the sea-level rise is relatively mild, unavoidable severe damage to earth would most likely still be noticed. Observed recently, close to home, in the London droughts, which killed over 100 people and destroyed many homes. Valérie Masson-Delmotte, co-chair of the IPCC, said in the report "with gradual sea-level rise, those extreme sea-level events that have occurred in the past, just once per century, will occur more and more frequently in the future", could happen “once or twice per decade by mid-century”.

On another note, the good news is, that we are now sure that net zero will deliver. Scientists had been worried since they didn’t know with certainty what would happen when it comes to carbon dioxide, but recent studies show much more accurate predictions, revealing a more solid solution to climate change.

Admiringly, the public is beginning to fight back to their governments to persuade them into implementing measures towards fighting climate change. In Ireland and the Netherlands, environmental campaigners have successfully taken governments and companies to court. Greenpeace’s Nordic, senior political adviser, Kaisa Kosonen, underlines how important this is by saying "one only needs to look at the recent court victory secured by NGOs against Shell to realise how powerful IPCC science can be."

With the close coming of COP26 in Glasgow, the IPCC will most likely represent a base of negotiations – pushing all policy makers to deliver on immediate and long-lasting change.

For additional information on the impacts of climate change and how the Sustainable Development Goals are targeting it, click here to read more about Pico Analytics’ post on SDG 13 on climate action.