The latest report on climate change is in. The warnings are as stark as ever, but the language still suggests that climate change is something that can be solved, once and for all, if only we adopted the right policies. But instead of clinging on to the fantasy of sustainability and a future with no climate change, we should focus our efforts in delaying its inevitable catastrophic effects and prepare for them as best we can, argues Thom Brooks.
We are at "code red for humanity" on climate change. In its first major study since 2013, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed a global scientific consensus that humans are primarily responsible for causing climate change, with consequences that may be next to impossible to reverse. The IPCC is clear that things are getting worse. Under all scenarios, the Earth's temperature will have risen 1.5 C this century by 2040, if not sooner. Such an increase creates significant challenges, threatening millions of people living in coastal areas around the world. As the global community prepares to meet for COP26 in Glasgow this November, sharp attention will be directed towards what can be done to urgently reach net zero by the middle of this century.
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