Reaction to today’s release of the IPCC’s Synthesis report of the 6th Assessment Cycle, which reflects an undeniable scientific consensus about the urgency of the climate crisis, its primary causes, its current devastating impacts especially on most climate vulnerable regions and the irreversible harm that will occur if warming surpasses 1.5°C, even temporarily. Among other warning signs, the report stresses the dire need for “rapid and deep, and, in most cases, immediate greenhouse gas reductions in all sectors in this decade”.
- QUOTE ON POLITICAL WILL
“There is a reason why everyone talks about 1.5°. It’s not a craving, not a buzzword, not a wish list by environmentalists… it’s a scientific survival target. As dramatic as it is, the equation is quite straightforward: we know the problems and the solutions, what remains is the political will. We need the EU to be a climate leader and contribute to get us out of the many crises we are facing, making a historical push and once and for all publicly commit to what everyone knows needs to happen to avoid even more dreadful consequences: ditching fossil fuels and protecting the people and the planet” Chiara Martinelli, Director at CAN Europe
- QUOTE ON 1.5°C
“1.5°C is a temperature threshold we cannot drop. It is already catastrophic at 1.1 and those fractions of degrees literally mean millions of lives. Science says that we need to go much faster in cutting emissions and building resilience. The transformations needed will eventually be less radical than the disruptions the world will experience if we fail. And the IPCC report is crystal clear that the next seven years are the very last chance to keep this survival limit, after decades of delayed action and murderous deceit by the fossil fuel business with governments’ complicity”
Sven Harmeling, International Climate Policy Expert at CAN Europe
Sven Harmeling, International Climate Policy Expert at CAN Europe
- QUOTE ON THE EU’s AMBITION
“With the newest science available, it’s even clearer how the European Green Deal is falling very short. As the EU is close to finalising the legislative process to put it into motion, it is absolutely key that the remaining legislative proposals, i.e. buildings, gas package, and renewables, aim much higher so that the climate and energy legislative package ‘Fit For 55’ can overshoot the 55 and get closer to at least 65. It’s a matter of science and global equity” Klaus Röhrig, Head of Climate at CAN Europe
Check reactions from civil society coordinated by CAN International.
ABOUT THE IPCC SYNTHESIS REPORT
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN’s climate science-policy body with a key role in supporting governments and the UNFCCC process in understanding the state of science.
- The institution, based on the work of thousands of scientists, issues comprehensive Assessment Reports (AR) every few years.
- A specialty of the IPCC process is the production of the Summaries for Policymakers (SPMs) which are negotiated and agreed upon with governments on a line by line basis to reflect the accepted science-policy consensus. Almost all countries including all G20 members are active in the IPCC and thereby technically agree to the report outcome.
- Even if the IPCC is the best science synthesis we have, lots of the underlying science shows us that even more ambition is needed to keep to safe limits, as the Summary for Policymakers of the IPCC reports need consensus from countries.
- The reports are the evidence base to inform actions at all levels and by all stakeholders for this decisive decade in our history. Science is our evidence base for everything we do as a climate network.
- The Synthesis Report being finalised at the IPCC session in Interlaken, Switzerland, between 13 and 17 March, is the summary/conclusions of all reports of the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Cycle that were published between 2018 and 2023, which covered:
- Three special reports (Global Warming of 1.5°C; Climate Change and Land; and The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate)
- And more recently, Reports of the 3 Working Groups (The Physical Science Basis; Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability; and Mitigation of Climate Change)
- This is the last big report we will probably get from the IPCC in a while. The 7th Assessment Report is not expected before 2027/28, and decisions on any smaller special reports in between yet need to be taken.
CONTACT
Nina Tramullas, Interim Head of Communications at CAN Europe: nina.tramullas@caneurope.org
