The heavyweight UN IPCC report “Climate Change in 2021: The Basics of Natural Science” was officially announced today at 4 pm. Unlike previous assessments, the IPCC report officially confirmed that humans are the chief culprit of climate change. Scientists warned in the report: The speed of global warming is faster than imagined. If we do not take action, the disaster facing mankind will be inevitable.
The report has 3,500 pages and is co-authored by 234 top scientists from more than 60 countries. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the report “the red code of mankind” and pointed out that “global warming is affecting every region on the planet, and many of these changes are becoming irreversible.”
Today’s United Nations climate report is an urgent call to action for the world: we must reach net-zero emissions by 2050 to avoid a climate disaster. https://t.co/eSaC2HyD8q
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) August 9, 2021
The reason for the warming of the earth is human beings
According to CNN, this report more deeply blames human greenhouse gas emissions for global warming than any previous IPCC climate report.
This is no longer a question of “natural and man-made” climate change. Human society’s dependence on fossil fuels is the cause of the earth’s warming. These fuels produce large amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.
The more serious problem is that the rate of warming is faster than scientists thought! If we do not act quickly, humans will heat the earth by 1.5°C in 2040. Previously, scientists identified 1.5°C as a critical threshold for warming up — when the temperature rises above 1.5°C, the effects of climate change may be devastating.
According to BBC reports, in the ten years from 2011 to 2020, the global surface temperature was 1.09°C higher than that between 1850 and 1900. The past five years have been the hottest on the planet since 1850 on record.
This year’s historic drought, widespread wildfires and deadly floods around the world are confirming the views of scientists in reality.
The Only Way to Stop Warming: End Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The IPCC reported that the only good news is that it is still possible to stay below the 1.5°C threshold.
The only way to stop the temperature rise is to immediately cut greenhouse gas emissions drastically.
Although most countries signed the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, it is still not enough! The Paris Climate Agreement aims to control the increase in global temperature this century to a range far below 2°C and strive to keep it below 1.5°C.
The latest report said that even if scientists consider all emission conditions, unless carbon emissions are significantly reduced, the temperature rise this century will soon reach the threshold, close to 2°C.
The scientists set a goal in the report: If humans can reduce global emissions by half by 2030 and reach zero emissions by the middle of this century, the rising trend of greenhouse gas emissions can be reversed or even stopped.
There is not much time left for mankind!
