The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gave a bleak final warning on greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.
The world can still hope to prevent the absolute worst ravages of climate change, but only by acting in a “now or never” dash to immediately and quickly lower carbon emissions.
Scientists have issued the final warning for governments worldwide on the climate, urging a dash for a low-carbon economy and society.
Greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2025, a mere three years from now, and can nearly be halved this decade in order to give the world a chance of limiting future global warming to 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
It will require enormous efforts by governments, businesses, and individuals. But the final cost of doing so will be minimal, experts say, amounting to only a few percent of global GDP by mid-century.
The chances are narrow. The world is failing to make necessary changes. On the current trajectory, temperatures will soar to more than 3C, and with it will come catastrophic consequences unless policies and actions are urgently strengthened.
The latest IPCC report was the third and final section of its most recent comprehensive review of climate science. Thousands of scientists fed their work into the report. The IPCC reports take a whopping seven years to compile, meaning that this may be the last one before the world is already irrevocably on a path to climate breakdown.
The bleak report said it is now almost inevitable that temperatures will rise about 1.5c, which is when many effects of climate change become irreversible. However, the IPCC said that it may be possible to bring down the temperatures below the critical level by the end of this century if we are able to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is an unproven method.
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