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« Let’s be clear: That was preventable, » said Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise movement, angry at the recent United Nations climate report. The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, released Aug. 9, « is apocalyptic, catastrophic and not something we have not shouted about from the rooftops about in years, » Prakash continued. « If Biden really wants to be a world leader in climate matters, he will heed this call and pass the boldest law of reconciliation. »
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The UN climate summit in November (COP 26) will be one of the most important diplomatic meetings in history; World leaders will literally decide the future of life on earth. The Paris Agreement, signed at the last major summit in 2015, obliges the world’s governments to keep global warming “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) limit. The IPCC report, which UN Secretary General António Guterres described as a “Code Red” warning that “must ring a death knell for fossil fuels”, makes it irrefutably clear that more than 1.5 ° C are absolute, perhaps irreversible, catastrophes for humans and nature mean systems worldwide. 2
Although 1.5 ° C will have significantly worse effects than observed today, it would be dramatically more severe at 2 ° C and almost unimaginably harder at even higher temperatures. The extreme heat and drought that started the Dixie Fire this summer is now five times as common as it has in the past. If the temperatures rise by 2˚C, they occur 14 times as often.3
Thousands of scientists have separately declared a “climate emergency”, also because mankind now has to act incredibly quickly and far more in the years to come to avert worse conditions. Global temperatures are already up 1.1 ° C, and trends point to a ruinous 3 ° C later this century. To stop at 1.5 ° C, emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-storing gases must be halved by 2030 and “net zero” by 2050, according to IPCC scientists. Speed and extent “unprecedented” in human history.4 Relatives items
The coverage of the “Code Red” climate report was good. How to get it.
Andrew McCormick
The challenge is impressive – but by no means impossible. Almost all major obstacles to the transition to a climate-friendly world economy are political
The solutions must therefore also be political. The UN summit must not fail under any circumstances; Governments must reach an agreement that will credibly bring the world economy to 1.5 ° C by halving emissions by 2030. « Credible » is the key. The deal must not be weakened by the business-friendly loopholes that overshadowed the recent US Congressional infrastructure bill, which, among other dire examples, included $ 8 billion for « blue hydrogen, » a term oil companies invented for the production of hydrogen You – wait for it – burn more fossil gas! 6
As the world’s largest cumulative emitter of greenhouse gases, the US has a unique responsibility. (China has overtaken the US in recent years to become the largest annual emitter, but cumulative emissions determine global temperatures.) Biden has played a good game and is committed to reducing climate pollution to 50 percent of 2005 levels by 2030 but its performance is well below what it takes to put credible pressure on other countries to do more. And other countries need to do more. China, India and Russia in particular – all of which are major emitters – have so far refused to support the 1.5 ° C target, a recipe for disaster. 7 Related articles
« That was avoidable, » say climate activists of Grim New Science
Mark Hertsgaard
The Sunrise Movement is right that the passage of a law of reconciliation with ambitious climate regulations is imperative. But while activists focus their anger and reporters focus their coverage on Biden and fossil-fuel-friendly Democrats like West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, Republicans in Congress, who have long been the main driver of America’s climate inaction, largely escape criticism. Politics is about power, and nothing focuses a politician’s mind more than the prospect of being voted out of office. In the weeks leading up to COP 26, popular power could change how politicians calculate. Now is the time for politicians from all parties to hear loud and clear: Either you do what is necessary to keep this planet alive, or we, the people, make sure that the next election is your last. 8th
Mark HertsgaardTwitterMark Hertsgaard is the managing director of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism initiative that promotes more and better reporting on climate history. He is also an environmental correspondent for The Nation and the author of books such as HOT: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth.
The NationTwitterThe Nation was founded by abolitionists in 1865 and has recorded the breadth and depth of political and cultural life, from its debut of the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, and serves as the critical, independent, and progressive voice in American journalism.
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