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Dismayed by several recent changes in school <keyword id="6375423" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="syllabus" source="Orion">syllabus</keyword> related to the weather, <keyword id="6361617" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">climate change</keyword>, and even the Indian monsoon, a teachers' body has urged the <keyword id="48505" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="ncert" source="Orion">NCERT</keyword> to rethink these deletions from the school environmental syllabus and bring in different facets of the <keyword id="6375923" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate" source="Orion">climate</keyword> crisis.<br /><br />Teachers Against the Climate Crisis (<keyword id="14398053" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="tacc" source="Orion">TACC</keyword>) has claimed the NCERT has removed an entire chapter on Greenhouse Effect from Class 11 Geography syllabus; an entire chapter on weather, climate weather systems, and water from the Class 7 syllabus; and information about the Indian monsoon from the Class 9 syllabus.<br /><br />TACC, a non-funded, non-party organisation that seeks to promote understanding about climate and has members across universities and research institutions across <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>, said it appreciates NCERT's efforts to manage learning deficit in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic by seeking to reduce students' workload by culling material - as explained on its website - however, "none of these concerns apply to fundamental issues such as climate change science, the Indian monsoon, and the other chapters that have been deleted."<br /><br />Stating that the relevant climate change science as being continuously updated via thousands of peer-reviewed papers published each year as well as very important compilations such as the <keyword id="8956" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="intergovernmental-panel" source="Orion">Intergovernmental Panel</keyword> on Climate Change (IPCC's) latest Assessment Reports and India's own report on climate change published by an agency under the <keyword id="158211" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ministry-of-earth-sciences" source="Orion">Ministry of Earth Sciences</keyword>, a statement from TACC said, "It is extremely important that senior school students all over India are conveyed the essence of such updated information in an accessible, easy-to-understand manner."<br /><br />Across the world, including in India, students have been more and more concerned about the drastic changes wrought by environmental degradation, of which climate change is an example. "Young people's actions and interventions are crucial to meeting this most fundamental challenge. This action needs to be predicted upon systematic knowledge of the reality of climate change, its causes, and its enormous reach. Students need to understand the complexity of the climate crisis if they are to respond and engage intelligently with it," TACC said.<br /><br />Class 10 students, however, will no longer be able to learn and be inspired by popular people's movements such as Chipko movement or Narmada Bachao Andolan in their 'Popular Struggles and Movements' lessons since the chapter on them has been taken out of their 'Democratic Politics' syllabus, it said, and urged the NCERT to rethink its decision about deletions of these topics from the environmental syllabi.<br /><br />SEE ALSO : <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/twitter-fires-30-of-its-employees-in-the-talent-acquisition-team/articleshow/92739415.cms">Twitter fires 30% of its employees in the talent acquisition team</a><br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/elon-musks-44-billion-twitter-deal-is-in-jeopardy-says-report/articleshow/92738854.cms">Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter deal is in jeopardy, says report</a><br /><br />

Bring back chapters on climate crisis, teachers body tells NCERT

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-effective-climate-solutions-to-implement-right-now-2022-4" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">UN report</a> calls for drastic, immediate cuts to heat-trapping gas emissions.</li><li>A small part of those cuts come from individual people <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cycling-boom-us-streets-infrastructure-bike-lanes-history-united-states-2020-12" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">biking</a> to work or wasting less <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/foods-getting-more-expensive-this-year-inflation-supply-fertilizer-war-2022-4" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">food</a>.</li></ul><p>Hundreds of<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-risk-arrest-in-global-climate-protests-2022-4" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored"> scientists</a> called for immediate, drastic <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-effective-climate-solutions-to-implement-right-now-2022-4" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">action</a> to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases in a<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crisis-could-turn-around-this-decade-ipcc-report-2022-4" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored"> major report</a> last week.</p><p>The original goal set in the historic Paris Agreement — to limit<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-alter-human-life-un-ipcc-report-2022-2" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored"> global warming</a> to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures — is quickly fading into the rearview mirror. The new report, from the<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-animal-extinctions-climate-change-un-ipcc-report-2022-3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored"> United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>, drew a road map to give the planet one last chance at 1.5 degrees.</p><p>The <keyword id="6941656" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ipcc" source="Orion">IPCC</keyword> warned that emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide and<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-imagery-reveals-methane-pouring-from-the-us-russia-daily-2022-2" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored"> methane</a> must peak as soon as possible — in 2025 at the latest — then plummet to half their current levels by 2030, and drop to zero by 2050. That means drastic changes across all sectors of human life, especially a rapid transition away from <keyword id="11970530" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fossil-fuels" source="Orion">fossil fuels</keyword>, such as coal and oil, to renewable-energy sources, such as solar and wind power.</p><p>Conversations about cutting emissions often involve a<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fossil-fuel-companies-spend-millions-to-promote-individual-responsibility-2021-3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored"> familiar refrain</a>: What can I do? How can I make my lifestyle more sustainable?</p><p>The truth is that just a small fraction of the IPCC's road map involves individuals changing their day-to-day behaviors. There are some lifestyle changes that may be effective if people in the developing world deployed them en masse — diet, food waste, and transportation choices. But the report emphasized that government policies and better business practices were necessary to change human behavior on a large scale.</p><p>"Lifestyle choices and behavior is certainly important. But not everything is in our control," said Edward Byers, an energy and climate researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and a lead author on the IPCC report.</p><p>You could switch your gas-guzzler for an electric vehicle tomorrow, Byers added, but you might not be able to choose whether the new car's electricity came from a solar farm or a coal-fired power plant.</p><h2><strong>'Influencers' make daily decisions with big emissions implications</strong></h2><p>For developed countries, such as the US, there are some straightforward lifestyle changes that would reduce emissions. For example, it could make a big difference if urban populations ditched their cars for biking, walking, and public transport.</p><p>But that only happens if planners and developers make cities more walkable by building homes near businesses, designing roads that are safe for bikes, and planning accessible, cheap public transit systems.</p><p>That's why Stephanie Roe, a lead author on the IPCC report and climate scientist at the World Wildlife Fund, thinks of individual action in terms of "influencers." Such people have the power to make large-scale choices as professionals — such as planning transit systems or deciding what a restaurant chain does with its extra food — which can either significantly reduce emissions or have cascading effects that influence other people's behavior.</p><p>"We assume a lot of times it needs to be these top-down decisions, either from the federal or state level, that can make these changes. But oftentimes it's actually the actions of individuals within these sectors that can make a big difference," Roe said. </p><p>"If you have somebody who builds houses for a living, for example — that developer or that builder can choose heat pumps over boilers, or they can choose induction stoves over gas stoves," she added. "Those kinds of decisions, that are not necessarily facilitated or incentivized yet by policy, are made on an individual basis."</p><p>Food waste, which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/methanes-warming-power-spurs-sustainability-solutions-in-agriculture-2021-10" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">releases</a> powerful methane gas as it decomposes, is one problem whose solution may fall largely on individual consumers. The IPCC report found that in 2019, 61% of the world's food waste came from households.</p><p>Still, the report recommended the creation of education campaigns to reduce household food waste, policies to make expiration-date labels clearer, and improved packaging to extend shelf life.</p><p>"A lot of the responsibility to decarbonize lives with big businesses, industries, and governments to establish the correct incentives and regulatory frameworks," Byers said. There are "many, many things that the public can do in their everyday choices. This also requires centralized and coordinated action, and political will."</p>

Changing your personal lifestyle is just a small part of fixing the climate crisis

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-bill-nelson-russia-space-dmitry-rogozin-chief-roscosmos-2022-3">NASA</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-satellite-images-show-tonga-volcano-eruption-reached-mesosphere-2022-2">scientist</a> and three others were arrested after chaining themselves to a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-grills-jamie-dimon-chase-charging-overdraft-fees-pandemic-2021-5">Chase Bank</a> on Wednesday.</li><li>The action was one of more than a dozen <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-alter-human-life-un-ipcc-report-2022-2">climate</a> protests staged by Scientist Rebellion across the globe.</li></ul><p>A <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword> scientist and three others were arrested in <keyword id="11940480" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="los-angeles" source="Orion">Los Angeles</keyword> on Wednesday after chaining themselves to the doors of a <keyword id="12279069" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="chase-bank" source="Orion">Chase Bank</keyword> office building.</p><p>JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co. <a href="https://apstylebook.com/businessinsider/ap_stylebook/jpmorgan-chase-co"></a> has invested more money in fossil fuels than any other bank, according to a 2020 <a href="http://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2020/03/Banking_on_Climate_Change_2020.pdf">report</a> from the Sierra Club and other climate advocacy organizations. In addition to calling for immediate action to address the climate crisis, the protestors on Wednesday were calling for the company to divest from coal, oil, and gas.</p><p>Peter Kalmus, who studies biological systems and <keyword id="11896311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">climate change</keyword> at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, spoke to a crowd that assembled shortly after another protestor helped Kalmus chain himself to the handle of the bank's glass door. The event was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ScientistRebellion/videos/438294118058895">livestreamed on </a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ScientistRebellion/videos/438294118058895">Facebook</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ScientistRebellion/videos/438294118058895"></a>.</p><div type="image" title="protest in front of chase bank with four people in white lab coats chained to doors" height="1152" width="2048" msid="90697172" hostid="261"></div><p>"I'm willing to take a risk for this gorgeous planet, for my sons," Kalmus said, his voice cracking as he mentioned his children.</p><p>Covering his face for a moment, he continued, "We've been trying to warn you guys for so many decades that we're heading towards a fucking catastrophe, and we've been being ignored. The <keyword id="6367929" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="scientists" source="Orion">scientists</keyword> of the world are being ignored, and it's got to stop. We're not joking. We're not lying. We're not exaggerating."</p><div type="image" title="peter kalmus climate scientist speaking with microphone" height="1127" width="1500" msid="90696891" hostid="261"></div><p>Insider was unable to identify the other three people who chained themselves to the bank's doors. Nearly four hours later, more than two dozen police officers blocked off the road, removed the four protestors, and carried them away in a van.</p><p>JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co. declined to comment on Wednesday's events.</p><h2>Scientists are risking arrest in cities across the planet</h2><div type="image" title="protestors in white lab coats wearing a chain stand in a line with red smoke flares and signs" height="1680" width="2500" msid="90696892" hostid="261"></div><p>The actions of Kalmus and his companions were part of more than a dozen protests staged in cities across the globe this week, through a coalition called <a href="https://twitter.com/ScientistRebel1">Scientist Rebellion</a>, which is a branch of Extinction Rebellion dedicated to scientists taking actions of civil disobedience to advocate for climate action. This week's protests followed the release of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-effective-climate-solutions-to-implement-right-now-2022-4">United Nations' latest climate report</a>.</p><p>In Berlin, scientists glued their hands to the road to block a bridge. In Madrid, protestors threw red paint on the steps of the Spanish Parliament. In London, some <a href="https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2022/04/06/breaking-scientists-and-academics-throw-fake-oil-over-shell-hq/">threw fake oil</a> onto the facade of Shell's UK headquarters. In Sydney, five protestors, including a biology professor, were arrested after laying in the street to block traffic in pouring rain. In Washington, DC, people chained themselves to the fence surrounding the White House.</p><div type="image" title="police carry protestors in white lab coats away from spanish parliament steps covered in red paint" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90696894" hostid="261"></div><p>The report from the UN <keyword id="11911245" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change" source="Orion">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</keyword> (<keyword id="6941656" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ipcc" source="Orion">IPCC</keyword>) released Monday concluded that the world must peak emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide in less than three years to have a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial standard.</p><p>Surpassing that temperature increase would have catastrophic consequences beyond the climate change that's already driving extreme wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, and floods across the planet. The report found that the world's governments and corporations are far from meeting the emission-reduction goals that would help limit that extreme weather.</p><div type="image" title="gloved police officer uses paintbrush to remove glue holding protestor's hand to asphalt road" height="1657" width="2210" msid="90696895" hostid="261"></div><p>"Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals, but the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels," António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said in a press briefing on Monday.</p><p>"It's now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C," Jim Skea, co-chair of the IPCC group that wrote the new report, said in a <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/resources/press/press-release/">press release</a>. "Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible."</p><p>Researchers representing Scientist Rebellion also participated in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03430-5">protests</a> surrounding the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, last year, where 15 scientists were arrested.</p><p>"This planet is everything, and it's time we start acting like it," Kalmus said.</p>

NASA scientist arrested after chaining himself to Chase Bank as part of global climate protests

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crisis-could-turn-around-this-decade-ipcc-report-2022-4">major UN report</a> offers a playbook for averting the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crisis-endangers-women-girls-pregnant-people-2022-3">worst</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/allergy-season-may-last-longer-with-double-the-pollen-study-2022-3">effects</a> of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/Antarctica-ice-shelf-previously-thought-stable-collapses-2022-3">climate change</a>, if the world acts now.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-estimate-9000-tree-species-are-still-unknown-to-them-2022-1">Forests</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-solar-power-plan-clean-energy-by-2050-2021-9">solar</a> farms, and compact <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-investing-green-infrastructure-manage-climate-change-2022-3">cities</a> with electric buses can make a huge difference this decade.</li></ul><p>We only have three years left to avert the worst <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-animal-extinctions-climate-change-un-ipcc-report-2022-3">consequences</a> of <keyword id="11896311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">climate change</keyword>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crisis-could-turn-around-this-decade-ipcc-report-2022-4">a sobering report from the United Nations</a> warned on Monday.</p><p>Human activities are releasing heat-trapping gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, into the atmosphere. That's caused global temperatures to rise 1.1 degrees Celsius in the last 170 years, and the planet is on track to warm roughly 2 more degrees by the end of the century, catastrophically endangering humans' physical health, our food and water supply, the availability of safe places to live, and the survival of animal species.</p><p>However, there is still time to change our ways. That's the focus of the new report from the UN's <keyword id="11911245" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change" source="Orion">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</keyword> (<keyword id="6941656" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ipcc" source="Orion">IPCC</keyword>), authored by hundreds of scientists from across the globe.</p><p>"As long as you want to keep temperatures below about 3 degrees, we needed to peak emissions immediately, as soon as possible — ideally five to 10 years ago — and the latest, before 2025," Edward Byers, an energy and climate researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, and a lead author on the report, told Insider.</p><div type="image" title="farmer walks through field of dried brown soybean plants" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694521" hostid="261"></div><p>If global emissions of heat-trapping gases peak by 2025, plummet to half their current level by 2030, and drop to zero by 2050 — there's a chance the planet won't warm past 1.5 degrees. In nearly 3,000 pages, the report lays out a playbook to meet that ambitious timeline.</p><p>Many of the measures in the IPCC's roadmap are cheap, quick, and doable with current technology. Some, like improved mass-transit systems, offer additional benefits, like creating new jobs and addressing socioeconomic inequity.</p><p>"The global benefits of climate action exceed the cost," Stephanie Roe, a lead author on the report and a climate scientist at the World Wildlife Fund, told Insider.</p><p>"It's still possible," Byers said.</p><p>Here are five straightforward climate actions that governments and businesses of all sizes can tackle right now.</p><h2>Retrofit cities for electrified transit, biking, and walking</h2><div type="image" title="electric buses lined up inside factory" height="1667" width="2500" msid="90694523" hostid="261"></div><p>Cities and urban areas make up two-thirds of all global emissions, according to the new IPCC report. Redesigning urban transportation could cut about one-quarter of those emissions by 2050.</p><p>That means building housing near workplaces, so that residents have short commutes, and designing streets that encourage biking, walking, or taking shared public transit instead of driving personal vehicles. The IPCC also recommends running public buses, trams, and other transit vehicles on electricity rather than oil.</p><p>The report found that these measures would ultimately save money. They would likely improve local air quality, too.</p><h2>Ditch <keyword id="11970530" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fossil-fuels" source="Orion">fossil fuels</keyword> for solar and wind power</h2><div type="image" title="wind turbines and church silhouetted against sunset" height="1667" width="2500" msid="90694525" hostid="261"></div><p>Electric buses and trains won't drive down emissions much if their energy comes from coal-fired power plants. Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas release lots of carbon dioxide and methane when we burn them for energy.</p><p>For that reason, the energy sector is a far bigger greenhouse-gas polluter than sectors like agriculture or transport. In 2019, energy suppliers produced about 34% of all human-driven emissions worldwide, according to the IPCC report.</p><p>Climate scientists' core message: We must stop using fossil fuels as quickly as possible.</p><p>Every pathway to limit warming to 1.5 or even 2 degrees requires almost eliminating fossil-fuel use by the 2050s, Byers said.</p><div type="image" title="worker in yellow hard hat standing amid field of solar panels spraying water" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694527" hostid="261"></div><p>The good <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword> is that <keyword id="12265703" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="wind-turbines" source="Orion">wind turbines</keyword> and solar panels have become significantly cheaper to install and operate in the last decade. Now, renewable energy is often competitive with fossil fuels. Governments, businesses, and households should draw energy from wind and solar farms whenever possible, the report recommends.</p><p>"Renewables can be done rapidly and very cheaply nowadays," Byers said, adding, "The electricity sector has made lots of progress on this."</p><h2>Cut methane emissions by patching leaks</h2><h2><div type="image" title="flames black cloud rising from flarestacks natural gas facility" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694529" hostid="261"></div></h2><p>Nearly one-fifth of all the energy sector's emissions are methane — a powerful gas with 30 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide.</p><p>Most of that methane comes from "fugitive emissions," meaning leaks from fossil-fuel transportation and processing facilities. An analysis of satellite images from 2019 and 2020 found <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-imagery-reveals-methane-pouring-from-the-us-russia-daily-2022-2">more than 1,800 methane plumes along gas pipelines</a> all over the globe. Altogether, the study calculated, those leaks' emissions were comparable to 20 million additional vehicles on the road for a year.</p><p>Because the gas has such a potent heating effect in the atmosphere, a drop in methane emissions can help rapidly reduce the speed of global warming. Patching gas leaks would probably save energy companies money, too.</p><p>"That is a really low-hanging fruit, I think, that can be easily addressed," Roe said.</p><h2>Stop wasting food</h2><div type="image" title="volunteer carries bags of potatoes at drive-thru potato handout" height="1666" width="2223" msid="90694532" hostid="261"></div><p>Methane also comes from livestock and waste facilities, as cows belch and garbage decomposes. Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions in the US, and food waste is the largest category of garbage, according to the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/sustainable-management-food-basics">Environmental Protection Agency</a>. The <a href="https://www.usda.gov/foodlossandwaste/why">Department of Agriculture</a> estimates that 30-40% of the US food supply is wasted.</p><p>Wasting less food would mean fewer methane emissions at the landfill and could also reduce emissions upstream in food production. Using food that previously would have gone to waste could allow us to produce less of it, which would mean fewer emissions from fertilizer, farming, and food-processing machinery.</p><div type="image" title="field of plowed lettuce" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90694535" hostid="261"></div><p>That's a lifestyle change that individuals and families can make in developed countries. According to the IPCC report, 61% of the world's food waste came from households in 2019.</p><p>"That is an easy way to both increase efficiencies and reduce your own costs as a consumer, reduce the cost down the supply chain, and make a big, big difference in terms of reducing emissions, but also limiting and reducing pressure on land," Roe said.</p><h2>Protect <keyword id="13075240" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="forests" source="Orion">forests</keyword> and grow more of them</h2><div type="image" title="man with binoculars surveys rainforest canopy green trees" height="1998" width="2664" msid="90694537" hostid="261"></div><p>Trees thrive by absorbing carbon dioxide from the air and storing it in their tissues. That's why forests can be a powerful tool to slow global warming.</p><p>The IPCC report calls for protecting forests across the planet from deforestation, or the die-off of trees from changing climate conditions, fires, or humans cutting them down. It also points to afforestation, meaning planting new trees where there are none.</p><p>"Afforestation is something that can be deployed today," Byers said.</p><p>Growing trees takes time, he added, but "it can be done in every country in the world."</p><p>In this decade, the IPCC's plan could cost $100 or less for every ton of carbon dioxide emissions it prevents. More than half of those mitigation strategies cost just $20 or less per ton, the report estimates. Many of them would ultimately save money.</p><p>But relying on just one solution isn't enough.</p><p>"There are no silver bullets. We need to do it all," Roe said.</p>

Scientists say climate solutions like solar power and walkable cities are cheap, doable, and can make a dent in the crisis

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The world can turn around the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-alter-human-life-un-ipcc-report-2022-2">climate crisis</a> this decade, hundreds of scientists concluded in a major UN report.</li><li>To avert the worst <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-crisis-endangers-women-girls-pregnant-people-2022-3">climate</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-animal-extinctions-climate-change-un-ipcc-report-2022-3">catastrophes</a>, the world has three years to start cutting emissions.</li></ul><p>Governments and corporations across the planet have the tools to turn around the climate crisis in the next decade, hundreds of scientists concluded in a major climate report on Monday.</p><p>Humans are filling the atmosphere with more carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases than ever before. But there's still time to limit the planet's warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial standard, according to the report. That temperature cap would avert the most catastrophic <keyword id="11896311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">climate change</keyword>, including further <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-animal-extinctions-climate-change-un-ipcc-report-2022-3">mass animal and plant extinctions</a>, significant increases in the frequency and severity of heat waves and droughts, and tipping points that could lock in even greater levels of warming.</p><p>To avoid heating the planet past that 1.5-degree goalpost, global emissions of heat-trapping gases must peak by 2025, drop to half their current level by 2030, and drop to zero by 2050.</p><div type="image" title="rising seas surround little girl on bench" height="1666" width="2222" msid="90652614" hostid="261"></div><p>The new 3,000-page report, from the <keyword id="11896449" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="united-nations" source="Orion">United Nations</keyword>' <keyword id="11911245" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change" source="Orion">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</keyword> (<keyword id="6941656" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ipcc" source="Orion">IPCC</keyword>), lays out a playbook to meet that ambitious timeline. It recommends transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources like solar and wind, outfitting cities with electrified transportation systems and energy-efficient buildings, and deploying technologies that suck carbon out of the atmosphere.</p><p>"We clearly have the tools to tackle the climate crisis. That's what the report shows. But they need to be deployed much more rapidly, on a larger scale, to keep 1.5 within reach," Stephanie Roe, a lead author on the report and a climate scientist at the World Wildlife Fund, told Insider.</p><div type="image" title="wind turbines and church silhouetted against sunset" height="1667" width="2500" msid="90652615" hostid="261"></div><p>The problem is mustering the political will and financial resources to do it. The report identified just 18 countries that have consistently reduced their emissions over the last decade. Worldwide, financial investment in mitigation efforts would need to increase three- to six-fold in order to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, the report found.</p><p>Existing fossil-fuel projects, like coal plants and oil wells, are enough on their own to lock in warming that exceeds 1.5 degrees, the report found.</p><p>"Some government and business leaders are saying one thing, but doing another. Simply put, they're lying and the results will be catastrophic," António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said in a press briefing on Monday.</p><p>"Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals, but the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels," he added.</p><h2>The last IPCC assessment before the crucial 2025 deadline</h2><div type="image" title="pair of hands cupped holding crude oil" height="1755" width="2341" msid="90652616" hostid="261"></div><p>The new report is the third installment of the IPCC's sixth assessment. The first portion, released last year, focused on physical changes to the planet. In February, the second portion assessed how those changes will impact humans and ecosystems.</p><p>The IPCC conducts the three-part assessment process roughly every six or seven years. This assessment was delayed several months by the COVID-19 pandemic. The last time the IPCC published a solutions-oriented report was in 2014, as part of its fifth assessment.</p><p>This time around, the solutions recommended in the report may be more doable, despite the rapidly approaching 2025 deadline for turning around global emissions. The cost of solar and wind energy has plummeted since the IPCC's fifth assessment, and new innovations have made renewable-energy and energy-efficiency technologies work better on a larger scale.</p><p>"I think we're actually pretty fortunate to be alive during this brief time in history, where we sort of understand the stakes, but have time to do something about it," John Bistline, a contributing author to the energy-systems chapter of the report, told Insider.</p><p>This will be the last IPCC assessment before the 2025 milestone. By the time the UN convenes scientists to make another such assessment, it will likely be too late to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.</p>

The world can turn around the climate crisis this decade, UN report confirms, but governments need to step up

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mystery-solved-nasa-to-try-perseverance-rover-sample-collection-again-2021-8">NASA</a> astronaut <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-spacex-astronauts-megan-mcarthur-bob-behnken-2021-4">Megan McArthur</a> says she's "saddened" to see <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wildfire-fires-ancient-olympia-the-olympic-games-birthplace-2021-8">wildfires</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wildfire-smoke-could-turn-full-buck-moon-blood-red-2021-7">burning</a> across the globe.</li><li><keyword id="73998" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="astronauts">Astronauts</keyword> on the <keyword id="6382020" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="international-space-station">International Space Station</keyword> can see the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oregon-bootleg-fire-creating-fire-clouds-pyrocumulonimbus-storms-2021-7">extreme weather</a> caused by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-impacts-to-last-millennia-ipcc-report-2021-8">climate change</a>.</li><li>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/still-time-to-address-climate-change-ipcc-scientists-report-2021-8">new UN report</a> on <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change">climate change</keyword> is "a warning for the entire global community," McArthur said.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronauts-held-first-space-olympics-on-space-station-2021-8">Astronauts</a> have a better view of Earth than anybody, but lately it's a discouraging one.</p><p>"We've been very saddened to see fires over huge sections of the Earth, not just the United States," <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword> astronaut <keyword id="1270813" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Megan-McArthur">Megan McArthur</keyword> told Insider on a recent call from the space station.</p><p><keyword id="394841" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="wildfires">Wildfires</keyword> are raging across the US, Canada, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Algeria, and Siberia. McArthur's crewmate, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, has posted photos of those blazes from above on Twitter.</p><p>Wildfires are one of the most visible hallmarks of the climate crisis. This summer, they've come alongside historic heat waves and the western US's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/western-us-extreme-heat-drought-leads-to-wildfires-power-failures-2021-6">worst drought</a> in the 20-year history of the US Drought Monitor.</p><p>A new report from the UN's <keyword id="60781" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Intergovernmental-Panel-on-Climate-Change">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</keyword> (<keyword id="6941656" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="IPCC">IPCC</keyword>) warns that "fire weather" will probably increase by 2050 in North America, Central America, parts of South America, the Mediterranean, southern Africa, north Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. That means more days where conditions are warm, dry, and windy enough to trigger and sustain wildfires.</p><p>The amount of fuel available to burn in those places - dry vegetation - is also likely to increase as rising temperatures cause the air to absorb more moisture and bring about more droughts.</p><p>The IPCC report, released Monday, is the first part of the group's sixth assessment, which recruits hundreds of experts to analyze years of scientific research on climate change. Those experts determined that global temperatures will almost certainly rise <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-ipcc-report-temperature-rise-20-years-15-degrees-2021-8">at least 1.5 degrees Celsius</a> above the preindustrial average by 2040.</p><p>That may sound small, but it brings about huge changes across the planet, including further melting of glaciers and polar ice caps. This contributes to sea-level rise, and water expands as it heats up, so it is virtually certain that oceans will continue rising through the end of this century. In the best case scenario, the IPCC authors said, oceans will rise by nearly a foot over the next 80 years.</p><p>But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/still-time-to-address-climate-change-ipcc-scientists-report-2021-8">there is still time to prevent 2 degrees Celsius of warming</a> and the even more catastrophic changes that would bring, the report said.</p><p>"Over many years, scientists around the world have been sounding this alarm bell," McArthur said. "This is a warning for the entire global community. It's going to take the entire global community to face this and to work through these challenges."</p><h2>Astronauts can see the climate crisis unfolding across the planet</h2><div type="image" title="hurricane laura ISS" height="2730" width="3641" msid="85328262" hostid="261"></div><p>Astronauts can see other signs of the changing climate, too: "Big tropical storms - those are always coming, and potentially the flooding that comes after them," McArthur said. "We can see all of those effects from up here."</p><p>Future astronauts will probably observe even more of that. The IPCC report found that combinations of extreme events like heavy rainfall and hurricane-caused storm surge, paired with rising seas, will continue to make flooding more likely in coming decades.</p><p>Other <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-images-show-california-mega-drought-drying-up-lakes-forest-2021-7">satellites can also see signs of drought</a>, like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/take-a-look-at-lakes-that-dried-up-california-drought-2021-6">dried-up reservoirs</a> across California.</p><p>"The other thing that we can see, of course, is the very thin lens of atmosphere," McArthur said. "That is what protects our Earth and everything on it. And we see how fragile that is, and we know how important it is."</p><div type="image" title="thin atmosphere glowing orange against space stars above nighttime earth city lights" height="1188" width="1584" msid="85328263" hostid="261"></div><p>The burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil is drastically changing that thin atmosphere by filling it with heat-trapping gas.</p><p>In 2019, the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere was higher than at any time in at least 2 million years, according to the IPCC report. Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide - more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide - were higher than at any time in at least 800,000 years.</p><div type="image" title="smoke plumes dixie fire as seen from space" height="2784" width="3712" msid="85328267" hostid="261"></div><p>As those gases fill the atmosphere, they prevent more and more heat from the sun from bouncing back into space. That's what's causing global temperatures to rise and bringing about the extreme weather that astronauts are watching in horror.</p><p>"That is the place that we need to be able to live. So it's important that we take ownership of whatever we can do to help maintain it," NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei told Insider.</p>

Astronauts say they're saddened to watch the climate crisis from the space station: 'We can see all of those effects from up here'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>There's still time to stave off the worst of the climate crisis, according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-impacts-to-last-millennia-ipcc-report-2021-8">a new climate report</a>.</li><li>Every half-degree of warming avoided makes a huge difference in the intensity and frequency of extreme heat, rainfall, and drought.</li><li>Scientists think it's still possible to keep global temperatures from rising above 2 degrees Celsius.</li></ul><p>At first glance, Monday's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-impacts-to-last-millennia-ipcc-report-2021-8">long-awaited report</a> from the <keyword id="60781" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Intergovernmental-Panel-on-Climate-Change">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</keyword> was bleak. It found that some consequences of human-driven emissions are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-impacts-to-last-millennia-ipcc-report-2021-8">irreversible for centuries to millennia</a>, and that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-ipcc-report-temperature-rise-20-years-15-degrees-2021-8">warming will continue</a> to some extent over the next two to three decades, regardless of how much emissions drop.</p><p>But the assessment also emphasizes that the worst-case climate disasters aren't inevitable: Every half-degree of warming that can be averted makes a huge difference - including in the intensity and frequency of extreme heat, rainfall, and drought. Even incremental reductions in emissions today would stave off more catastrophic events in the coming decades.</p><p>The IPCC report comes from a working group of hundreds of scientists whose last assessment was in 2013. This new report shows that human-caused emissions have led the planet to warm by 1.1 degrees Celsius in the last 170 years. Some glacial melting and sea-level rise will continue for millennia, no matter what happens next.</p><p>But Youba Sokona, vice-chair of the IPCC, highlighted a more optimistic takeaway: "We are in the right moment to completely change the direction we are taking," he told Insider.</p><p>In the IPCC's worst-case scenario, global emissions would double by 2050, causing temperatures to rise an average of 2.4 degrees Celsius between 2041 and 2060. But in the best-case scenario, the global temperature would rise just 1.5 degrees between now and 2040, then dip back down by the end of the century.</p><p>That means there's still time to act.</p><p>"It is virtually certain that global surface temperature rise and associated changes can be limited through rapid and substantial reductions in global greenhouse-gas emissions," the IPCC authors wrote.</p><h2>The world has some time to lower emissions </h2><div type="image" title="paris climate agreement" height="2334" width="3500" msid="85218244" hostid="261"></div><p>In the Paris agreement, world leaders pledged to cut greenhouse-gas emissions enough to keep global temperatures from <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/faq/faq-chapter-1/">rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius</a> above pre-industrial levels. Now, Earth's temperature is very likely to blow past that mark in the next 20 years, according to the IPCC report.</p><p>But the Paris agreement's larger goal was to avoid a 2-degree rise at all costs. That's still possible, scientists say.</p><p>"It's very likely that we'll exceed 1.5 degrees," Greg Flato, a climate scientist from the Canadian Center for Climate Modeling and one of the new report's co-authors, told Insider. "It's possible to exceed slightly and stabilize if we follow a pathway of deep emissions cuts by midcentury."</p><p>Already, the world cut carbon emissions by <a href="https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/12/3269/2020/">2.5 billion tons</a> in 2020, since pandemic-related lockdowns meant fewer vehicles on the road, planes in the sky, and less collective electricity use at peak times. That's a roughly 6% decline from the year prior, following decades of rising global emissions.</p><p>"The lesson we can learn from that is that we can change our behavior drastically in the short term," Sokona said.</p><p>The IPCC found that every trillion tons of carbon emitted leads the world's temperature to rise roughly 0.45 degrees. To stay under the 2-degree threshold, we have about 900 billion tons of carbon left in the budget. In 2019, emissions reached about <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-global-fossil-fuel-emissions-up-zero-point-six-per-cent-in-2019-due-to-china">37 billion tons</a> - so if that rate continues and no carbon gets removed from the atmosphere, we'd have about 25 years remaining.</p><h2>There's still time to mitigate extreme heatwaves, drought, and floods</h2><div type="image" title="Drought Brazil" height="1500" width="2250" msid="85218246" hostid="261"></div><p>A difference of half a degree may sound minor, but avoiding that increase would make the difference between extreme and deadly heatwaves, droughts, and floods and milder, less frequent versions of these events.</p><p>At 2 degrees of warming, extreme temperature changes could be twice as pronounced as they would be at 1.5 degrees, the IPCC report found. Globally, the chance of at least three months of drought per year would rise from about 20% at a 1.5-degree temperature rise to 35% at 2 degrees.</p><p>The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), meanwhile, could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/atlantic-ocean-water-circulation-weakening-climate-shift-2021-8">lose nearly 30% of its pre-industrial strength</a> if global temperatures rise anywhere between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius. This system of ocean currents moves warm water from the equatorial tropics up to Europe and the north Atlantic. The influx of warmer water contributes to western Europe's mild, temperate climate, so if the current gets weaker, it could result in more intense winters in some places and more frequent heatwaves and droughts in others.</p><p>Higher temperatures will also shrink the planet's ice sheets, snow cover, glaciers, and permafrost - a layer of soil that used to stay frozen year-round. As permafrost thaws, it releases carbon, which traps heat and contributes to additional warming. With each degree of warming, the top 3 meters of permafrost could lose 20-30% of its volume, the IPCC found.</p><p>Even if humanity doesn't wind up avoiding all of these disasters, the report at least tells policymakers what's in store.</p><p>"Having that information today allows us to begin the actions that will make us ready a decade from now, mid-century, and at the end of the century," Alex Ruane, one of the report's lead authors, told Insider.</p><p>"This provides a kind of roadmap, or at least a forewarning, of the types of changes that we have to be prepared for," Ruane said, adding, "This is where my optimism lies."</p>

Climate scientists want you to know it's not too late

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Some of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-crisis-heat-dome-condo-collapse-nyc-floods-infrastructure-2021-7">climate crisis</a>' effects on <keyword id="6373773" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="oceans">oceans</keyword> and ice will last millennia, a new report says.</li><li>That report, the Intergovernmental Panel on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-disasters-hottest-year-record-earth-2020-2021-1">Climate Change</a>'s sixth assessment, was released Monday.</li><li>It found <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-chamoli-disaster-mystery-solved-avalanche-glacier-flood-2021-6">glaciers</a> would keep <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-if-all-ice-earth-melted-overnight-2019-10">melting</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-surfside-champlain-condo-collapse-climate-change-resilience-development-underwater-2021-7">seas would rise</a> for hundreds or thousands of years.</li></ul><p>Earth won't be the same again for thousands of years. Human activities have altered our planet's systems so dramatically that seas will continue to rise and <keyword id="6616544" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Glaciers">glaciers</keyword> continue to melt long after the 21st century.</p><p>That's according to a long-awaited report, released Monday, from the <keyword id="60781" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Intergovernmental-Panel-on-Climate-Change">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</keyword> - a UN body that recruits hundreds of scientists from across the globe to summarize years of research on the climate crisis.</p><div type="image" title="black smoke plume above darkened snow" height="1572" width="2096" msid="85174101" hostid="261"></div><p>That aggregated research paints a dismaying portrait of both our planet's long-term future and the short-term impacts of <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change">climate change</keyword>, including increasingly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oregon-bootleg-fire-creating-fire-clouds-pyrocumulonimbus-storms-2021-7">extreme weather</a>. In burning fossil fuels, humans have pumped so much carbon dioxide into Earth's atmosphere that it would continue heating the planet even if the world's emissions dropped to net zero today.</p><p>That warming commits Earth to major upheavals in the coming decades - rising seas, disappearing glaciers, extreme heat, floods, drought, and tropical storms. Some of those changes, the <keyword id="6941656" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="IPCC">IPCC</keyword> report found, will be "irreversible for centuries to millennia."</p><h2>Glaciers will melt and seas will rise for millennia to come</h2><div type="image" title="firefighter in smoke filled forest in siberia" height="3869" width="5158" msid="85174107" hostid="261"></div><p>Already, the Arctic is losing its permafrost, a layer of soil that used to stay frozen year-round. That frozen layer has captured carbon from plants and animals that have died over past centuries - about twice as much carbon as currently exists in the atmosphere.</p><p>As rising temperatures thaw the permafrost, though, that carbon escapes into the atmosphere, where it traps heat and contributes to additional warming. This carbon release may last hundreds of years, according to the IPCC.</p><p>Changes to Earth's oceans, too, "are irreversible on centennial to millennial time scales," according to the report. The oceans have been absorbing about <a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-ocean-absorbing-more-carbon">31%</a> of carbon-dioxide emissions, which makes them more acidic. They're also heating up along with the rest of the planet. Warmer water holds less oxygen, a resource that's crucial to marine life.</p><div type="image" title="glacier calving splinters of ice fall into ocean" height="1674" width="2232" msid="85174111" hostid="261"></div><p>Warming will also keep glaciers melting at the poles and on mountaintops for decades, possibly centuries, the report says. If emissions rise further, some limited evidence suggests the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet could accelerate for centuries.</p><p>All that melting ice would contribute to even more sea-level rise. Over the next 2,000 years, oceans could rise as much as 72 feet. The IPCC report says with "high confidence" that sea levels "will remain elevated for thousands of years."</p><h2>Other takeaways from the IPCC report</h2><p>The UN created the IPCC in 1988 to inform policymakers about how the climate is changing. This is its sixth climate assessment.</p><div type="image" title="IPCC climate change" height="1860" width="2480" msid="85174113" hostid="261"></div><p>For these reports, hundreds of scientists from across the globe comb through thousands of scientific papers. They describe how the climate is changing, the consequences of those changes, risks for the future, and what can be done.</p><p>Monday's report is the first part of the IPCC's new assessment, and it comes from a working group that hadn't released new findings since 2013. This portion comes three months before scheduled climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland. The next two parts of the report are expected in early 2022. Governments of 195 countries must approve each one before its release.</p><div type="image" title="Fire department helps man in Oregon amidst heat wave" height="2655" width="3540" msid="85174115" hostid="261"></div><p>Here are other key takeaways from the new IPCC report:</p><ul><li>The global average temperature from 2001 to 2020 was about 1 degree Celsius higher than it was from 1850 to 1900.</li><li>The average global sea level rose by about half a foot (0.2 meters) from 1901 to 2018. The rate of annual sea-level rise nearly tripled during that time.</li><li>In 2019, the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere was higher than at any other time in at least 2 million years. Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide - more-potent greenhouse gases than CO2 - were higher than at any time in at least 800,000 years.</li><li>Annual average Arctic sea-ice levels from 2001 to 2020 were their lowest since 1850, and the Arctic is likely to have a sea-ice-free September at least once before 2050.</li><li>Major tropical cyclones, heat waves, and heavy precipitation events have increased in frequency around the globe over the past four decades.</li><li>Combinations of extreme events like heavy rainfall and hurricane-caused storm surge, paired with rising sea levels, will continue to make flooding more likely in coming decades.</li><li>The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, an ocean current that carries warm water north and cold water south, is weakening. If the current slows enough, Europe and the US East Coast would be hit by freezing temperatures.</li></ul>

Climate-related changes to Earth's ice and oceans are now 'irreversible for centuries to millennia,' a new report says

<strong><br /></strong><ul><li><strong>Inter-Governmental Panel on <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate-change">Climate Change</keyword> (<keyword id="6941656" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="IPCC">IPCC</keyword>) just released its ‘special report’ on the impact of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.</strong></li><li><strong>The report focuses, in particular, on the impact of climate change on <keyword id="879547" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="sustainable-development-goals">Sustainable Development Goals</keyword> (SDGs) and measures to eradicate poverty.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>In their recommendations, they highlight that temperatures can only be kept in control if policy change is supplemented by changes in society. </strong></li></ul>The dangers of climate change are no secret, especially with scientists recently putting forward the possibility of climate change hurtling towards a ‘<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/hothouse-earth-climate-change-tipping-point-2018-8?r=US&amp;IR=T">Hothouse Earth</a>’ situation. But, the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/">concludes</a> that it’s possible to prevent averages global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times. <br /><br />But for it to work, things are going to need to change. Drastically. <br /><br />In order to meet the target put forth by the <keyword id="3087299" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</keyword> of 2015, the world would need to reduce its <keyword id="56310" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="greenhouse-gas">greenhouse gas</keyword> emissions by 20% before 2030 and culminate a net-zero emission level by 2075. <br /><br />‘Net’ zero emissions doesn’t imply no emissions at all. It just means that what greenhouse gas emissions do occur, they’re not in excess of what can be absorbed by nature or technological interventions.<br /><br /><strong>Climate change alone isn’t enough<br /></strong><br />In order for <keyword id="55804" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="sustainable-development">sustainable development</keyword> to take place, and for the temperature to stay below a 1.5 degrees Celsius increase, it will need to be supplemented by fundamental societal and system transformations. <br /><br />The report recognises that a shift in society is coupled with ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals differs from nation to nation and from region to region, depending on the requirements. But, if social change and equity aren’t kept at par while making environmental changes, then the poor and the disadvantaged face a grave risk of being worse off. <br /><br />The IPCC lists five integrated ‘reasons for concern’ (RFCs) that summarise the impact of climate change across various regions and sectors. Unique and threatened systems are the most vulnerable to the effects of increasing temperatures. Even keeping within the limits of temperature change, that segment will still face an impact. <br /><br />Adapting to the change in temperature will be easier if the temperature increase is kept within 1.5 degrees Celsius and not allowed to snowball to 2 degrees Celsius. However, if the former situation occurs, there are certain limits to adaptation when it comes down to some human and natural systems. <br /><br /><keyword id="53564" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Southeast-Asia">Southeast Asia</keyword>, in particular, is vulnerable to being at a higher risk of increased flooding related to sea-level rise, increased incidences of heavy participation and a one-third decline in per capita crop production.<br /><br />Tropics, as a whole, could face an accumulated heat-wave that lasts up to 3 months.<br />

Preventing climate change requires a shift in society, says UN panel

<strong><br /></strong><ul><li><strong>Inter-Governmental Panel on <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate-change">Climate Change</keyword> (<keyword id="6941656" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="IPCC">IPCC</keyword>) released its ‘special report’ on the impact of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.</strong></li><li><strong>Keeping other global issues in mind, the report analyses the trade-offs and synergies between keeping climate change in control and other <keyword id="879547" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="sustainable-development-goals">sustainable development goals</keyword> (<keyword id="450172" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="sdgs">SDGs</keyword>).<br /></strong></li><li><strong>Their study goes while some goals are aligned with reducing <keyword id="58357" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="greenhouse-gas-emissions">greenhouse gas emissions</keyword>, the trade-offs are higher for other paradigms.</strong></li></ul>Reducing the impact of climate change isn’t just about reducing average global temperatures, it’s about doing it in a way that doesn’t worsen other global problems. A ‘<a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/">special report</a>’ by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) analyses that while it may be synergized with reduction of air pollution and improving health, reducing greenhouse gas emissions drastically will be trickier when it comes to food security and water security.<br /><br />In order to successfully implement policy changes that control climate change, the report highlights that finance and technology need to be aligned with local requirements and institutions need to be integrated for effective governance.<br /><br />It also warns against a single-minded approach to reducing climate change. The IPCC recommends that issues of power and inequality shouldn’t be ignored, but integrated into the solutions that are put in place to tackle climate change. Here's how the panel proposes tackling climate change and balancing other sustainable development goals (SDGs):<br />

IPCC analyses the synergies and trade-offs between preventing climate change and SDGs

<ul class="summary-list"><li>For decades, the <keyword id="11916946" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="insurance" source="Orion">insurance</keyword> industry has invested and assessed risk for fossil fuel companies.</li><li>These investments and insurance policies have helped fossil fuel companies grow and expand.</li></ul><p>Insurance is seen as a measure of protection against the worst-case scenarios, like fire, flooding, and severe business losses. However, the global insurance industry is increasingly being questioned for its contribution to the climate crisis due to its decades of underwriting and investing in fossil fuels companies. </p><p>While some insurers are selling off their coal, oil, and gas assets due to pressure from the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-divesting-from-fossil-fuels-means-for-investors-2021-8">divestment movement</a>, others continue to support production and expansion of the industry through <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-its-so-hard-to-quit-coal-for-many-investors-2021-8">investment</a> and acceptance of potential risk for a fee, known as underwriting.</p><p>At this year's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (also known as <keyword id="12037021" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cop26" source="Orion">COP26</keyword>), a panel will release the fifth annual <a href="https://insureourfuture.co/scorecard/">Fossil Fuel Insurance Scorecard</a>, which will highlight which global insurers are helping the world transition to a low-carbon economy, and who is not.</p><p>Activists, non-governmental organizations, and even some firms themselves are advocating for the insurance industry to withdraw their services and funding in order to prevent new fossil fuel projects from being constructed as well as help phase out the operations of existing companies.</p><p>The relatively small number of insurance companies worldwide means policy restrictions and/or withdrawal of coverage and investment from a specific industry can have a large impact. For example, more than 30 insurers have announced restrictions on coal insurance, which has already made securing coverage more difficult and costly for coal projects and companies.</p><p>There's also the concern of a growing number of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00175-5">climate-related lawsuits</a> and <a href="https://www.postonline.co.uk/risk-management/7686891/climate-related-litigation-could-produce-grey-or-black-swan-event-risk-managers-warned">potential liabilities</a> amid a growing body of research showing coal to be a leading contributor to global carbon emissions and the action needed to prevent even more severe human-driven global heating, according to <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/08/1097362">the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>.</p><p>The most recent <a href="https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/88dec0c7-3a11-4d3b-99dc-8323ebfb388b/WorldEnergyOutlook2021.pdf">World Energy Outlook report</a> from the <a href="https://www.iea.org/">International Energy Agency</a> released this month also stated "no new oil and gas fields are required beyond those already approved for development" in order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.</p><p>The report will include updates on which major insurers have ended or limited their cover for coal projects, tar sands, oil and gas production, as well as who has pledged to align their investment portfolios with the target set by the UN's <a href="https://www.unepfi.org/net-zero-alliance/">Net Zero Asset Alliance</a> of 1.5 degrees Celsius.</p><p>"It really goes a long way into breaking down all these big ideas and policies into a way that people can take in bite-size information in a way that makes sense for them," said Joseph Sikulu, a managing director at the climate change advocacy group 350.org.</p><p>European and Australian insurance firms have led on coal-divestment policies as well as restrictions on oil and gas compared to American insurers, according to the insurance advocacy organization Insure Our Future. Earlier this month, AXIS Capital announced new policy measures restricting insurance and investments in heating coal, tar sands oil, as well as Arctic oil and gas, the first for a North American insurance company.</p><p>Some insurance professionals are realizing it is in their best interest to avoid contributing to industries that have been identified as worsening the climate crisis and the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/global-disaster-climatechange-covid/uninhabitable-hell-climate-change-and-disease-threaten-millions-un-warns-idUSL8N2H04RY">growing damage</a> from floods, storms, droughts, wildfires, and heatwaves.</p><p>For example, more than 31 million American homes along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts were found to be at a moderate risk (or more) from being damaged by hurricane winds, and the costs of reconstructing those dwellings was estimated to be approximately $8.5 trillion, <a href="https://www.corelogic.com/insights/storm-surge-report.aspx?WT.mc_id=crlg_210527_MTXQB">according to a study</a> by CoreLogic, a property data and analytics company.</p><p>"Insurers have to assess risk and our future," Sikulu told Insider ahead of his appearance at COP26. "If they can't see the damage that fossil fuel industries cause our future and the harm it is putting our people at risk, what's the point of it?" </p>

You Searched For "intergovernmental panel" and got 12 results

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Preventing climate change requires a shift in society, says UN panel

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IPCC analyses the synergies and trade-offs between preventing climate change and SDGs

The insurance industry needs to stop funding fossil fuels and lead on the transition to clean energy, says COP26 panel

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