The findings of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released this week have gone beyond being a wake-up call – they are a scream to take action.
As the Climate Council puts it:
There’s so much packed into this report – so we’ve compiled some of its key conclusions into our latest article: What does the IPCC’s latest report mean?. Here’s what it all comes down to:
- The scale and pace at which humans are altering the climate system has almost no precedent. Human influence has warmed the climate at a rate that is unprecedented in at least the last two thousand years.
- Climate change and its impacts are accelerating, and more impacts are on the way. Lack of action, despite decades of warnings, means we are now seeing these alarming changes unfold at a faster and faster rate. In other words, our climate is not merely changing, the rate of change is now accelerating.
- Every fraction of a degree matters. Every additional increment of warming means more extreme weather, including increases in the intensity and frequency of heatwaves, damaging rainfall, and droughts.
- Responding to climate change means doing everything possible to reduce emissions, while also adapting to the impacts that can no longer be avoided. Past inaction means that more impacts from climate change are on the way but the right choices made today will be measured in lives, livelihoods, species and ecosystems saved.
The findings of this latest report are unmistakable: only stronger action this decade can prevent climate catastrophe.
Looking for ways to take action?
- Add your voice by signing the Climate Council’s petition that calls on the Australian Federal Government to cut emissions by 75% by 2030
- ”Send letters to MPs” was part of the ADAC’s Mass Mailout for Climate that aims to get the Climate Change Bill reintroduced into Parliament.
There is not a day to waste!