Good morning. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has highlighted the urgent but achievable actions needed to avoid catastrophic consequences of global heating, in what is in effect a final warning for governments on the climate. The report’s release comes as residents of northern NSW continue to salvage homes and businesses in the wake of repeat floods.
Thirty months is the very short time the world now has for global greenhouse gas emissions to finally start to fall or face the worst impacts of the climate crisis. The report from the IPCC says the world can still hope to stave off the worst ravages of climate breakdown but only through a “now or never” dash to a low-carbon economy and society. But currently, the failure to make the changes needed will result in temperatures soaring past 3C. “The implication for Australia is clear: we need to overcome the current situation where there is merely a patchwork of mostly half-hearted policies, and absence of any policy for many aspects of the economy,” writes Frank Jotzo. Here are the key takeaways from the panel’s third report.
