STATEMENT: IPCC Report Sounds the Alarm: The Climate Clock is Ticking, the Time to Act is Now
WASHINGTON (April 4, 2022)—Today the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new climate science report from its Working Group III on climate change mitigation. It covers actions we can take to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
The IPCC report finds that rapid transformations across all sectors and systems are necessary to avoid the worst climate impacts. The analysis highlights how total GHG emissions continued to climb over the last decade, but should peak before 2025 to preserve our best chance at not overshooting 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F). The report reveals that global action remains far off-track. It makes clear that finance, technological innovation, smart policies, and changes in lifestyles and behavior — including dramatically reducing fossil fuels — are all critical components of effectively and equitably mitigating climate change.
Following is a statement from Ani Dasgupta, President & CEO, World Resources Institute:
“The newest IPCC report confirms what we feared: our window to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C is extremely narrow, but the world’s leading scientists have shown us how to keep that goal alive. It’s time world leaders wake up and realize that business as usual is a recipe for total disaster.
“This report is an urgent call to action to peak GHG emissions before 2025 and nearly halve GHG emissions by 2030 to set the world on a path to reach net-zero by around mid-century. The IPCC report finds that emissions continue to rise and yet current climate plans and policies are woefully inadequate to change this trajectory.
“At the same time, the IPCC report points to some signs of progress that we can build upon. At least 24 countries have peaked emissions and sustained GHG reductions for over a decade. The rapid uptake of wind and solar has vastly outpaced what scientists previously thought possible, and last year renewable energy accounted for 90% of new power supplies globally.
“We have cost-effective options available today to significantly reduce emissions in the near-term while meeting our development goals. We must decarbonize electricity generation, industry, transport and buildings while halting and reversing deforestation. We must invest in innovation while closing the climate finance gap. We must improve agricultural practices while reducing food loss and waste and shifting to more sustainable diets. And we must stop investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure while scaling-up carbon removal.
“Holding global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C is still possible, but only if we act immediately. Every fraction of a degree matters. The tools required to rapidly decarbonize the economy so that people and nature can thrive are at our fingertips - we just need our leaders to wield them.”