Creecy:‘we need urgent funding to mitigate climate harm’
The bad news from the latest report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is that some of the changes to the climate are irreversible. The good news is that it’s not too late to mitigate the effect — action now will reduce harm.
If emissions continue to increase, scientists said, the Earth’s natural ability to absorb carbon will be less effective.
Sustaining the global temperature of 1.5°C by the end of the 21st century will require global scale negative emissions in the second half of the century to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide.
“The effects of warming and the limited options for adaptation to new temperatures and rainfall patterns will be assessed in the upcoming working group report to be tabled next year,” Environment Minister Barbara Creecy said in reaction to the report’s findings on Wednesday.
She said there was never a more important time than now for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s climate commission. “It has also long been known that the region is warming drastically, at about twice the global rate of warming,” she cautioned.
Creecy said the IPCC report was a stark reminder that money was needed to help countries arrest
further damage. The world’s largest economies are largely responsible for the current state of the climate, but developing countries who are least responsible will be most affected. Creecy urged developed countries to urgently honour their
obligation to provide financial support to their less prosperous counterparts.
“In the context of this report, issues of climate justice have never been more compelling,” she said.
“As we transition our energy generation
and at least seven sectors of our economy, we must ensure that those involved in the vulnerable sections of our society and economy do not carry a disproportionate burden for climate change and its mitigation.”