Maximum alert. Challenges in the fight against climate change “have never been so high”insisted Monday, February 14 Hoesung Lee, president of the UN climate experts, before the start of the process of approval of a new report on the consequences of global warming.
The “needs” for this report on the effects of global warming and how to prepare for it “have never been so important, because the stakes have never been so high”he said during a brief online session opening two weeks of closed-door negotiations.
Increase in the number of extreme events
“We know (…) that the growth of climate impacts far exceeds our efforts to adapt to them.added the boss of the UN-Environment Inger Andersen. We know the world is already aware of the scientific evidence that the IPCC has presented year after year, decade after decade, but acknowledging the evidence is only the first step.”
“Countries, cities, companies, investors and individual players, consumers must turn this first step into a sprint if we do not want to exceed +1.5°C.”
UN Environment chief Inger Andersenat a press conference
After more than a century and a half of economic development based on fossil fuels – coal, oil or even gas – the global temperature of the Earth has increased by approximately +1.1°C compared to the pre-industrial era. , already multiplying heat waves, droughts, storms or devastating floods.
In the first part of its report published last August, the IPCC estimated that the mercury would reach around 2030, ten years earlier than expected, the threshold of +1.5°C, the most ambitious objective of the agreement. from Paris. The second report, whose negotiations begin on Monday, looks at the consequences of global warming, and how to prepare for it (“adaptation”). This new assessment will be unveiled on February 28.
