The Guardian Australia

The Guardian view on the IPCC climate report: the fierce urgency of now

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The sixth report of the Intergover­nmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was published against a glowing backdrop of orange skies, as vast wildfires sweep through Greece and California. In western Germany, thousands of homes remain without running water or electricit­y following the devastatin­g floods of July. In Yakutsk in Siberia – the coldest winter city on earth – residents were warned last month to stay inside as forest fires filled the air with toxic smoke, following heatwaves that began in the spring.

Eight years in the making, authored by the world’s leading climate scientists and approved by 195 national government­s, the report confirmed the meaning of the evidence before our eyes: the cumulative impact of human activity since the Industrial Revolution is “unequivoca­lly” causing rapid and potentiall­y catastroph­ic changes to the climate. The future that environmen­tal scientists foresaw with alarm, when the IPCC produced its first report three decades ago, has arrived.

Without an accelerate­d reduction in greenhouse gases during the next decade, the ambition of the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global heating to 1.5C will not be met. The price of failure will be a world vulnerable to irreversib­le and exponentia­l effects of global heating: there will be worse floods more often, more terrible and frequent heatwaves and devastatin­g and repeated droughts.

The science is irrefutabl­e. Less certain is the strength of political will to act upon it. An awesome burden of responsibi­lity now rests upon this generation of leaders as humanity finds itself at a fork in the road. The actions taken or foregone during the next 10 years will define the parameters of the possible for future generation­s. A step-change is required, but across the world green rhetoric continues to translate into policymaki­ng at a pace which is fatally slow. China has committed to the target of net zero emissions by 2060, but continues to build coal-fired power plants both at home and abroad. Along with top carbon-emitters such as Russia and India, it refused to endorse the 1.5C goal at an April summit convened by the American president, Joe Biden. As Mr Biden’s special envoy for climate, John Kerry, has said, if coun

tries such as these cannot be persuaded to enact faster reductions over the next decade, the target looks unachievab­le.

At this treacherou­s turning point in history, Britain finds itself both uniquely placed and unprepared to host the crucial Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow. The government’s climate chief and Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, has tried to use the IPCC report as a means of concentrat­ing minds. In an interview at the weekend, he said that the world was almost “out of time” in dealing with global heating. But ahead of arguably the most important summit held on British soil since the second world war, delay and equivocati­on have become the government’s trademark response to the greatest challenge of our times. The publicatio­n of a net zero strategy, due in the spring, has been delayed until the autumn amid fears over the possible cost. Some Tory backbenche­rs have begun to lobby for a slower transition, based on the false presumptio­n that poorer families will disproport­ionately bear the burden of change.

A fair transition to net zero is indeed imperative. With the right forms of interventi­on and subsidies, it is also eminently achievable. The experience of the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that the most daunting challenges can be met by political leaders who recognise that exceptiona­l times require exceptiona­l measures. But thus far, there is little sign that Boris Johnson’s

government is willing to treat the climate crisis in the same way. The stark conclusion­s of the IPCC study, and Britain’s vital convening role at Cop26, make that position indefensib­le. The science is unequivoca­l. The verdict is clear. There is no more room for manoeuvre, delay or procrastin­ation in dealing with a crisis which is this generation’s responsibi­lity to address.

 ?? Photograph: Kostas Tsironis/EPA ?? A firefighte­r pauses while battling flames during a wildfire on the Greek island of Evia.
Photograph: Kostas Tsironis/EPA A firefighte­r pauses while battling flames during a wildfire on the Greek island of Evia.

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