IPCC AR6 SYNTHESIS REPORT SUMMARY

By Emma Eusebi

What is the IPCC?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a United Nations body of global experts from 195 countries, founded in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organisation and the United Nations Environmental Programme. The IPCC is primarily responsible for assessing the science on climate change and the AR6 Synthesis Report summarises five years of reports on the climate crisis and is the last instalment of the Sixth Assessment Report. This will be the last report until 2030 and our actions over the next seven years will resonate for thousands of years.

What are some of their key findings?

Human activities have unequivocally caused climate change, with the average global surface temperature now reaching 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels.

We are currently not on track to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C or even 2°C despite governments formally agreeing to attempt to avoid this scenario. We are likely to surpass 1.5°C in the next decade and will require expensive and accelerated actions to come back from this danger zone beyond planetary limits, otherwise known as overshooting.  

Existing fossil fuel infrastructure already exceeds the remaining carbon budget for limiting 1.5°C and our current policies place us on a trajectory for 2.7°C of global warming by 2100, even if they are implemented. 

The countries that are least responsible for climate change are the greatest impacted by its effects. According to the report, nearly half of the global population is highly vulnerable to climate change and their lives and livelihoods are increasingly under threat from more frequent and intense weather events. 

What is their advice?

The report essentially boils down to one key message: act now or it will be too late. It emphasises the urgency of the climate crisis and makes it clear that our window of opportunity to secure a sustainable and liveable future for all is quickly closing.

Despite this report acting as the final warning call to humanity, there is still hope and the report outlines the steps we must take to change course as the solutions are already there for us to implement at scale and at pace.

What are some of the solutions?

Divesting from fossil fuels, transitioning to low carbon and renewable energy sources, and investing in carbon removal technologies to halve global greenhouse gases by 2030. Fossil fuels no longer have a future if we want to have a liveable and flourishing planet with renewable forms of energy such as wind and solar now the cheaper options.  

Increased and accelerated investment in both climate adaptation and mitigation, and a redirection of capital towards climate action.

Prioritising equity, climate justice, social justice and just transition processes to enable ambitious adaptation and mitigation processes, and enhance climate resilience.

Restoring degraded natural landscapes and forests, reforming agricultural and industrial processes, and rethinking our transport systems in ways so that low carbon options can become cheaper and easier for people to make use of.  

The report sheds light on deep injustices:

The report states that vulnerable communities who are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change have been given insufficient funds so far to help them adapt to extreme climatic hazards and even forces such low-income countries into further debt.

As temperatures rise, adaptation becomes much harder and for some communities and ecosystems, adaptation limits have already been reached, resulting in devastating loss and damage as a result of increased and more frequent climate-related disasters.

Solutions with equity and justice at the forefront:

Ambitious adaptation and mitigation actions that prioritise equity, climate justice, social justice, inclusivity, and rights-based approaches result in more sustainable outcomes. They are also better equipped to support transformative change and increase climate resilience.

There is an overall understanding and acknowledgment that regions and people with considerable development constraints are highly vulnerable to climate change and that this vulnerability is heightened by inequity and marginalisation linked to a number of factors.

Climate adaptation must be integrated into social protection programs and redistributive policies must be implemented to enable deeper societal ambitions and ensure the meaningful participation of all relevant actors in decision making. These actions do not only increase climate resilience but can also build social trust and widen support for transformative change.  

People with high socio-economic status contribute disproportionately to emissions and have the greatest potential and various options to reduce emissions with increased support from policies, infrastructure and technology. Technology transfer, capacity building, and financing will support developing countries to leapfrog to low-emissions transport systems.

Rethinking the IPCC report:

It is important to recognise that this mammoth report was not protected from government influence and sugar coating and therefore not exempt from critique and controversy.

The report had to be approved line by line and government negotiators often attempt to lobby for the inclusion of their priorities within the text. This causes trouble and as we have seen in previous COP negotiations, regularly results in the final text being watered down or tiptoeing around various issues. Saudi Arabia pushed to suggest that carbon capture and storage is a more suitable alternative to renewable energy; Norway watered down wording about the urgency to reduce emissions; and Switzerland and the US pushed back on a reference referring to the access developing countries have to climate finance, to name a few.

Governments aside, a leaked draft has also revealed how the meat industry is blocking efforts to tackle climate change, with the removal of a recommendation to shift to a plant-based diet, any direct mentions of beef and dairy, and any sort of critique of the average emission-intensive Western diet. For clarity, the meat and dairy industry is responsible for 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the FAO.