What the IPCC Report Says About the Need for Radical Climate Change Action

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its newest report on the causes, impacts, and potential solutions to climate change on February 28, 2022.
  
• According to the report's findings, climate breakdown is occurring quicker than projected, and the opportunity for action is rapidly closing.
• The report is an appeal to governments and the private sector to take significant action to combat climate change.

COP26 concluded in November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, with the ratification of the Glasgow Climate Pact – a promise to achieve worldwide net-zero emissions by 2050. The pact's core goal is to keep the 1.5°C global warming target within reach. Although Glasgow made some progress, calculations indicate that even if all promises are met, the planet will warm by 2.4°C.

The IPCC reported this week that climate breakdown is proceeding faster than expected and that, at current rates, many portions of the planet may become uninhabitable over the next several decades. "I have seen many scientific publications in my time, but nothing like this," UN Secretary-General António Guterres remarked after reading the report. For humanity, this is a code red situation. We must join forces immediately to avert a climate disaster."

This climate code red comes in the middle of Ukraine's escalating crisis and humanitarian disaster, which has also highlighted Europe's complex relationship with and reliance on Russian fossil energy sources. Because of the crisis's energy instability and fear of energy independence, certain European governments may take policies that will hinder the transition to green energy. While an immediate response is clearly required, an energy-secure future must simultaneously address the climate crisis.

These warnings, as well as the issues associated with security, energy reliance, and climate change, are not new. The required transition must be enacted by world leaders. The World Economic Forum's primary goal is to minimise global warming by assisting public and private sector efforts to take climate action and develop for climate solutions. Initiatives such as the First Movers Coalition and the Alliance of Climate Leaders are calls for extreme action to work alongside governments to expedite the race to net-zero emissions and commercially scale the necessary technology.

What exactly is the IPCC report?

The IPCC, which represents 195 states, is a UN intergovernmental group tasked with delivering scientific assessments on the risks and implications of climate change to policymakers. Their reports are peer-reviewed by hundreds of climate scientists and experts. These findings are comprehensive, scientifically sound, and unequivocally point to human activity as a cause of climate change.

This is the second instalment of a two-part report. The first study concentrated on how manmade greenhouse gases (GHGs) are to blame for extensive global damage, whereas this report focuses on the sources, effects, and potential solutions to climate change. It highlights that the opportunity for action to remain in a climate-safe zone is rapidly closing.

What happens if we leave the safety zone?

According to the assessment, the world's total emissions must be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 in order to avert a climate disaster. At current levels, global emissions will rise by over 14% during this time span. If this is the case, we will be forced to adjust to irreversible consequences such as melting ice caps, frequent and violent weather events, and massive biodiversity and ecosystem loss. According to the paper, about 3,3 billion people currently live in highly sensitive climate situations, and the mass extinction of wildlife and flora is well underway.

Small island states and coastal areas are particularly vulnerable, with storms and rising sea levels wreaking havoc. Droughts, floods, and storms killed 15 times as many people in severely susceptible countries in Africa, South Asia, and South America between 2010 and 2020 than they did in wealthier ones.Worryingly, important ecosystems are losing their ability to absorb CO2, transforming peatlands and forests from carbon sinks to carbon sources. Permafrost thawing will release more GHGs into the atmosphere, hastening warming.

Inaction's growing financial and human costs

The research explains how an already precarious world and socioeconomic system will become much more perilous if enough is not done to combat climate change. According to the Swiss Re Institute, if net-zero standards are not attained, the world will lose 10% of its overall economic value by 2050. Asia, which has been the engine of economic expansion in recent decades, is expected to lose 26.5 percent of its GDP by 2050, while Africa and the Middle East may lose up to 27.6 percent.

A startling comparison shows that at the peak of COVID-19, the world economy shrank by 5%, while the 2008 financial crisis experienced a 1% global contraction. Food insecurity, poverty, infections, and ill-health will all be exacerbated as a result of climate and economic issues.

Climate migration is already frequent in many nations, and regions such as West Africa may see up to 32 million people forced to relocate by 2050 as a result of climate change. Meanwhile, droughts are becoming the norm in many subsistence farming communities, and climate-related food insecurity is leading to famine.

Unless we collectively engage in a value-based transformative shift to change the economic models and policies that are causing these disasters, similar occurrences will continue to occur — and intensify in size.

Measures to hasten adaption

Climate change has the greatest impact on developing countries, particularly those in the global south. This widens the economic gap between nations and exacerbates people-to-people inequality.

Only half of the IPCC member nations have incorporated adaption measures into their climate agendas. Flood barriers, drought-resistant crops, and early-warning storm systems are examples of these. According to the research, such efforts may not be sufficient to prepare for future dangers. We require total revolutionary change in our planning, construction, consumption, and systems. According to Mr. Guterres, "if climate consequences worsen, scaling up investments will be critical for survival." "I'm advocating for adaptation to receive 50% of all climate financing."

According to the analysis, we've already passed key tipping points. The COP27 meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, later in 2022, will undoubtedly focus attention on increasing adaptation funds. The IPCC report demonstrates how crucial this will be.

Companies, too, must have plans in place for adaptation that include both a risk and an opportunity lens. Insurance companies are already paying out record claim amounts in terms of risk management, with US insurers paying out $42 billion in natural disaster damages in the first half of 2021. Companies across all industries must alter their climate policies to respond to rising hazards as insurance companies increase their risk calculations.

In terms of potential, corporations may play a key role in promoting a just climate transition by cooperating with suppliers in vulnerable markets, assisting them in adapting to specific consequences of climate change while also future-proofing and building resilience into operations.

The race to net-zero represents a huge opportunity.

Humanity has a remarkable propensity for cooperation, even when the odds are stacked against us — the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine is proof of this. Climate change will be an even more formidable foe, and the net-zero goal will necessitate unwavering leadership and effective solutions.

The World Economic Forum has already joined over 120 corporations with $7.8 trillion in assets to make net-zero pledges through its Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders. The IPCC report emphasises the importance of taking action now to attain net-zero targets. A central narrative for clean-tech investment and innovation must emerge ahead of COP27. Large polluters, in particular, should translate climate pledges into innovative action. Partnerships between the public and commercial sectors to reduce emissions and encourage green innovation will go a long way toward combating climate change. Along with private sector companies, the US government is contributing billions of dollars to the development and adoption of sustainable technologies.

Pathways to Climate-Resilient Development

The IPCC is unequivocal in its warning: if we continue on our current polluting path, things will get much, much worse for the world and civilization. On the other hand, if we take decisive action and the public and private sectors partner up in the boxing ring against this powerful foe, we can convert this crisis into an opportunity.

Climate-resilient development entails putting adaptation and mitigation side by side while emphasising long-term, inclusive growth. Key parties, such as governments, leading enterprises, the finance community, indigenous knowledge holders, and community leaders, should share a vision of how we can not only bring climate change under control, but also create a world that is secure, stable, and just.

The World Economic Forum informs its climate action via the same integrated lens: solutions must take nature, land use, oceans, and climate into account as part of an integrated framework to maintain our life on our planet.