UN Report on Global Warming calls for rapid 'unprecedented' changes globally to limit planetary warming to 1.5 degree C

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations organization, released its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC (SR15) on Monday, during its 48th session held in Incheon, South Korea. In this report, the panel called for rapid "unprecedented" changes globally to limit planetary warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial levels, saying failure to do so would result in increased sea level rise and higher frequency of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and heatwaves.

The report examined the possibility of limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5ºC, as sought in the Paris Agreement — a landmark agreement in which global leaders united to combat climate change — as well as the consequences of failure to do so. The final report was produced by a team of 91 scientists from 40 countries and based on assessments of 6,000 available scientific studies.

The New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment said the impact of 1.5°C warming presented in the report is plainly larger than expected. The most vulnerable countries were coastal or economically agriculture-dependent, such as India, where poverty reportedly could increase as crop yields decline and unprecedented climate extremes would take place. One of the working groups' co-chairs, Debra Roberts, called the report the "largest clarion bell from the science community". The report indicated that without an increase in current climate change initiatives, by 2030 with 1.5°C, coral reefs would decline by 70–90% and be substantially lost — over 99% — at 2ºC. According to the report, the mitigation projects already taking place globally would need to be taken to an unprecedented scale.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

Adam Morton. "Great Barrier Reef faces dire threat with 2C global warming, UN report says" — The Guardian, October 8, 2018
"Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC" — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, October 8, 2018
Coral Davenport. "Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Crisis as Early as 2040" — The New York Times, October 8, 2018
"SR15 Headline Statements" — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, October 2018
Jonathan Watts. "We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, warns UN" — The Guardian, October 8, 2018
"IPCC report: India to be highly impacted says Centre for Science and Environment" — The Economic Times, October 8, 2018

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.