THE INTERNATIONAL effort to tackle climate change must be accelerated in order to limit global temperature rises, a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found.
The IPCC report, released today in South Korea, is an urgent reminder that global warming poses a grave risk to humanity.
To put into context what this means for Australia, the Climate Council has prepared its own report: “The good, the bad and the ugly: Limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C”.
The world has already seen 1˚C of warming.
Since mass industrialisation, along with increasing greenhouse gas pollution from the burning of oil, coal and gas, the world has already warmed by one degree.
This poses serious risks.
Here at home, Australians are already seeing the effects, including more frequent, longer lasting and more intense heatwaves, harsher droughts, coastal flooding and longer, more dangerous bushfire seasons.
The IPCC report is a timely reminder of the science-backed case for urgent international climate action.
Key findings include:
- Global temperatures have been rising rapidly, posing grave risks for humanity.
- The global effort to tackle climate change has begun, but must be accelerated.
- Australia is one of the most vulnerable developed countries to the impacts of climate change, but is contributing little to solutions.
- Inaction has already cost us dearly. A 1.5°C world, our best possible future, will change our lives even further.
- Limiting global warming to no more than 1.5°C is a formidable challenge but solutions are available.