Key findings from the latest IPCC Report
Prof Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society presents some of the key findings from the recent IPCC 6th Assessment Report (published on the 9th August, 2021).
Key findings
Recent changes in climate are widespread, rapid and intensifying, and unprecedented in thousands of years.
- Humans are “unequivocally” responsible for global warming
- Some climate systems are irreversible at least for centuries
- Although time is running out, it is not too late to avoid the worst impacts of climate breakdown
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate report, prepared by a diverse team of 234 authors from 66 countries, says that human activity has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land at an unprecedented rate.
Global warming of 1.5 °C and 2 °C will be exceeded during the 21st century, unless deep cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases occur in the coming decades.
Future impacts
- Extreme heat: more frequent and intense
- Droughts: increasing in some regions
- Heavy rain: more frequent and intense
- Wildfires: more frequent
- Oceans: warming, acidifying and losing oxygen
The sober assessment comes less than three months before Glasgow hosts COP26, a key climate summit.
