Five takeaways from the 6th IPCC report that every company should know ?

Eight years have passed since climate negotiators in Paris agreed to keep the temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius and strive for 1.5 degrees. Last week’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) from the IPCC is a sobering update on how far current climate actions are falling short of reaching that goal. The report’s troubling message may sound familiar. Still, it does so with unprecedented force and confidence, erasing any scientific doubt that the next decade will be crucial to avoid severe disruptions of our climate and ecosystems.??

In IPCC’s words: “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all (very high confidence),” Five takeaways from the report.??

Ironclad scientific consensus and the challenge got bigger??

The scientific certainty about the precarious state of our climate has soared since the fifth IPCC report, with scientists making most observations with high or very high confidence. It’s now beyond any reasonable doubt that “climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health.” Scientists also note that extreme weather events and biodiversity loss are triggered at much lower temperatures than they assumed just eight years ago.??

Mitigation needs to go into high gear?

“All global modeled pathways that limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius with no or limited overshoot,” the IPCC writes, “and those that limit warming to 2 degrees, involve rapid and deep and, in most cases, immediate greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors this decade (high confidence).” The report also puts numbers on it: limiting warming to 1.5 degrees takes a 43 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (compared to 2019) and a 21 percent cut to stay below 2 degrees. All current national reduction plans (NDCs) combined put the world on a 2.8 degrees trajectory. Correcting for flawed implementation, that number goes up to 3.2 degrees warming.???

Adaptation is paramount, but getting harder?

The IPCC notes that much damage – from rising sea levels to extreme weather – is already irreversible, and “vulnerable communities who have historically contributed the least to current climate change are disproportionately affected (high confidence).” But relying on adaptation at the expense of mitigation would be a mistake. “Every increment of global warming will intensify multiple and concurrent hazards,” the IPCC concludes, “Adaptation options that are feasible and effective today will become constrained and less effective with increasing global warming. Losses and damages will increase, and additional human and natural systems will reach adaptation limits (high confidence).”?

Climate resilient development is the solution, but it needs more funds?

The IPCC sees climate resilient development, which integrates adaptation and mitigation, as the only way forward. “Deep, rapid, and sustained mitigation and accelerated implementation of adaptation actions in this decade would reduce projected losses and damages for humans and ecosystems (very high confidence), and deliver many co-benefits, especially for air quality and health (high confidence).” But the financial system is ill-equipped to deliver. “Both adaptation and mitigation financing would need to increase many-fold. There is sufficient global capital to close the global investment gaps, but there are barriers to redirect capital to climate action (high confidence).?

Nature will play a lead role in net-zero strategies?

Net-zero strategies should focus on ambitious short-term goals, according to the IPCC. “Transitioning towards net zero CO2 emissions faster and reducing non-CO2 emissions such as methane more rapidly would limit peak warming levels and reduce the requirement for net negative CO2 emissions, thereby reducing feasibility and sustainability concerns, and social and environmental risks associated with Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) deployment at large scale (high confidence).” IPCC identified nature and agriculture as significant sources of untapped mitigation potential, particularly soil carbon sequestration and reduced conversion or restoration of natural ecosystems.???

The sixth IPCC report is not pulling any punches: companies, governments, and consumers must take decisive climate action in the next decade. It offers a clear roadmap to stave off crippling disruptions and depicts - with unprecedented scientific certainty - the life-shattering consequences if we don’t. Pointing to a lack of scientific consensus is no longer a tenable excuse for inaction.??

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