The stakes in the fight against global warming are higher than ever, the UN’s climate science chief has said as nearly 200 nations met to finalise a report on climate impacts. “The need for the Working Group 2 report has never been greater because the stakes have never been higher,” Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Chair Hoesung Lee said in a live videocast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Species extinction, ecosystem collapse, mosquito-borne disease, deadly heat, water shortages and reduced crop yields are already measurably worse due to rising temperatures. Just in the last year, the world has seen a cascade of unprecedented floods, heatwaves and wildfires across four continents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All these impacts will accelerate in the coming decades even if the carbon pollution driving climate change is rapidly brought to heel, the IPCC report is likely to warn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A crucial, 40-page Summary for Policymakers – distilling underlying chapters totalling thousands of pages, and reviewed line-by-line – is to be made public on 28 February. The report will also underscore the urgent need for “adaptation” – climate-speak which means preparing for devastating consequences that can no longer be avoided, according to an early draft seen by AFP in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In some cases this means that adapting to intolerably hot days, flash flooding and storm surges has become a matter of life and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n