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Two of the report’s authors call for a reduction in carbon emissions. PHOTO: Reuters
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UN: Man is to blame for extreme floods, fires and heat
We have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from climate change. This warns of a devastating UN report with the most frightening assessment to date.
Scientists have been warning for 30 years that human activity produces dangerous greenhouse gases, but on Monday, 234 experts issued a stern warning that the world was facing disaster.
“It is clear that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, the ocean and the land,” said the report, the largest on climate change to date. In view of this, “no government has any excuse to absolve itself of its responsibility to act.” Floods, deadly fires and
heat waves will not only
become the norm, but they will intensify
in the warming world, warns the 3949-page report.
Humans have already warmed the planet by approximately 1.1 degrees Celsius since the last century, largely by burning coal, oil and gas for energy – with the United States among the biggest polluters.
“It’s just guaranteed that the situation will get worse. We have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, “said Linda Myrnes, a senior climate scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research and co-author of the UN report.
Some effects of the change such as
melting ice caps and
the increase of the sea
level may be irreversible,
says the report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. UN chief Antonio Guterres described it as “a red code for humanity”. He called for an end to the use of coal and other fossil fuels, which cause the most pollution. “The alarm bells are deafening,” he said. “This report must herald the end of coal and fossil fuels before they destroy our planet.”
Hundreds of authors evaluated 14,000 individual studies to present the summary climate report, the main findings of which were endorsed by the delegations of 195 countries. The report comes less than three months before the key climate meeting in Glasgow, known as COP26. There are five key conclusions summarized by Bloomberg:
1. The last decade has been hotter than any other similar period in 125,000 years. Not only that, but carbon dioxide is now at its peak of two million years. According to scientists, additional warming could have catastrophic consequences for the whole world –
the heat will be so much
severe that people will die
when going outdoors
The combined contribution of global warming from natural factors such as the sun and volcanoes is estimated to be close to zero.
2. Scientists can now link specific meteorological events to man-made climate change. Twenty years ago, it was virtually impossible to attribute any particular storm or temperature jump to global warming. Extreme real-time events are already being analyzed. The deadly heat wave that engulfed the west coast of North America in June, for example, had detectable evidence of human responsibility.
3. Scientists have narrowed the forecast range for how temperatures react to greenhouse gas emissions. It is a cornerstone of climate sensitivity that has taken four decades.
The Earth’s response to a theoretical doubling of pre-industrial CO2 levels is estimated to be between 2.5 and 4 degrees – a much smaller range of 1.5 to 4.5 degrees in previous UN reports. These findings rule out the possibility that unlimited emissions have only a small effect on global temperatures.
4. The earth “rewards” good behavior. Almost
immediately after termination
of harmful emissions, heating will stop
and temperatures will stabilize in a few decades. But some effects, such as rising sea levels, will remain irreversible for centuries.
5. Scientists reach a consensus with all UN governments before publishing this report. Although difficult, unanimous agreement on the summary findings is a very powerful tool.
It could get much worse, climatologists warn. With the release of even greater amounts of harmful emissions, the Earth can be “fried” at temperatures 4.4 degrees higher than in the pre-industrial era. This is a forecast for the period 2081-2100.
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