Code Red for Humanity

 

We’ve signed the SME Climate Hub pledge in support of the UN’s Race to Zero Campaign

Yesterday’s IPCC Working Group 1 Report is a ‘code red for humanity’.  The alarm bells are deafening and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. Global heating is affecting every region on earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible.

 

According to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the internationally agreed threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius is perilously close. We are at imminent risk of hitting 1.5 degrees in the near term. The only way to prevent exceeding this threshold is by urgently stepping up our efforts and pursuing the most ambitious path. 

IPCC report key points:

  • Global surface temperature was 1.09C higher in the decade between 2011-2020 than between 1850-1900.

  • The past five years have been the hottest on record since 1850

  • The recent rate of sea level rise has nearly tripled compared with 1901-1971

  • Human influence is "very likely" (90%) the main driver of the global retreat of glaciers since the 1990s and the decrease in Arctic sea-ice

  • It is "virtually certain" that hot extremes including heatwaves have become more frequent and more intense since the 1950s, while cold events have become less frequent and less severe

The @IPCC_CH has published an interactive climate atlas where you can explore your region's potential climate future. 

“If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. There is no time for delay and no room for excuses. I count on government leaders and all stakeholders to ensure COP26 is a success.”  
- United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres

We must act decisively now to keep 1.5 alive. That is why Ignition, as champions of sustainability (of which environmental sustainability forms a part), signed the SME Climate Hub Pledge, in support of the United Nations’ Race to Zero campaign.

 
Image credit: Greenland Icebergs melting by NACKSTRAND

Image credit: Greenland Icebergs melting by NACKSTRAND

Image credit: Malawi desert by AMOS GUMULIRA -AFP

Image credit: Malawi desert by AMOS GUMULIRA -AFP

Image credit: Siberian Wildfire by PA

Image credit: Siberian Wildfire by PA

 
 
 

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Opinion, 5 min readLindie KramersIgnitionComment