A new report by United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes for very grim reading.
The report, commissioned on the back of the 2015 Paris Agreement, has warned that global warming caused by humans is speeding up as opposed to slowing down.
As it stands, there is only a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5C. Scientists warn that if warming is to reach 2C, the effects will be catastrophic.
Approximately 50% more people will be exposed to water stress, and hundreds of millions more will be plunged into poverty. Similarly, in the northern hemisphere, deaths from the heat and forest fires will become significantly more likely.
“It’s a line in the sand and what it says to our species is that this is the moment and we must act now,” said Debra Roberts, a co-chair of the working group on impacts. “This is the largest clarion bell from the science community and I hope it mobilises people and dents the mood of complacency.”
The report calls for carbon pollution to be cut in half by 2030.
Ireland’s most recent summer was evidence of global warming, as it saw the highest daily air temperature recorded since 1946.
You can read the report in full below.
The @IPCC_CH report on #GlobalWarming of 1.5°C is one of the most important #climatechange reports ever published. Limiting temperature increase requires unprecedented changes in society, but will have huge benefits. Every half a degree of warming matters. https://t.co/a7GOzVFv50 pic.twitter.com/p0wX5vYrA5
— IPCC (@IPCC_CH) October 8, 2018
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