• The IPCC's final call
• Renewables are clean, peaceful and cheaper
• What we need to do to save ourselves

We are at a crossroads: the choices we make today could guarantee us a safe and, above all, liveable future. Or they might not. This is the heartfelt appeal – and this time truly the last one – that the authors of the third and final working group dedicated to the mitigation of climate change have launched at those with the power to make decisions for the wellbeing of peoples around the world. This third chapter forms part of the "climate encyclopaedia" – that is, the IPCC's sixth assessment report (AR6). The last, because there will be no further warning before 2025, the year by which we must reach peak greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2 and methane. Heartfelt, because reaching this conclusion required scientists to debate at length before approving the final document.

After 2025, the emissions curve – which today stands at an all-time high – will need to fall, indeed plummet by 43 per cent by 2030 relative to 2010 levels if we are to have any chance of limiting the increase in average global temperature to 1.5 degrees, before reaching net-zero emissions in 2050. By 2070 if we aim directly for a 2-degree increase. And yet, as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has also noted, emissions have now risen – not fallen – by 14 per cent, making the task almost impossible. As scientists have stated, the "window of time" we have to take action is closing. For good.

Climate activists are often described as dangerous extremists, but the truly dangerous extremists are the countries that are increasing the extraction of fossil fuels.

António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General

The IPCC's final call

This third IPCC chapter follows the first two, dedicated respectively to the scientific evidence and adaptation, and they form part of a general update on the state of the climate that takes place every six to seven years. The fifth assessment report, in fact, was published between 2014 and 2015 to provide the international community with the tools needed to adopt the Paris Agreement, the first and only international treaty on climate change. Today the IPCC scientists have a different purpose: to make countries around the world understand that the climate crisis remains the greatest and most urgent challenge we face, despite the world having found itself, within the space of two years, confronting a pandemic and a near-global war. Two conditions that have shown us, once again, that this is the time to be courageous and change the status quo, so as to avoid remaining trapped in a lock-in – as the scientists put it – simply to preserve supposed economic and geopolitical balances, even though more efficient and convenient alternatives exist. Such as renewable energy.

Renewables are clean, peaceful and cheaper

Since 2010, indeed, the cost of solar energy, wind energy and the batteries capable of storing them has fallen enormously – by a percentage of between 55 and 85 per cent, according to the report. Many states have taken advantage of this by adopting laws and policies aimed at developing renewables, improving energy efficiency and cutting emissions, demonstrating that change is possible. "At least 24 countries have already reached peak emissions and have been reducing them for a decade," according to Ani Dasgupta, president of the World Resources Institute. Others, meanwhile, remain locked in the so-called business as usual scenario, which is not, however, envisaged by scientists.

Remaining idle is not an option: inaction is tantamount to a willingness to push the Earth towards "climate catastrophe" made up of "submerged cities, unprecedented heatwaves, terrifying storms, a decline in water availability and the extinction of millions of animal and plant species," according to Guterres. This is not fiction, not science fiction, not hyperbole – it is simply what scientists tell us will happen under current energy policies, which are driving us straight towards a 3-degree increase by the end of the century. Not even methane can any longer be considered a "better" source, and its emissions must fall by a third by 2030.

The scope for doing better is enormous, because emissions have risen in every productive sector – from energy to industry – with an increasingly active role played by large and expanding cities, and by forests which, in contrast, have seen their extent reduced.

What we need to do to save ourselves

• reach peak emissions by 2025;
• cut global emissions by 43% by 2030, and methane by 34%;
• achieve climate neutrality by 2050 to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees; by 2070 for 2 degrees;
• ban the use of coal for energy production;
• ban subsidies to fossil fuels;
• triple the speed of the energy transition in favour of renewables;
• invest in technological innovation – such as electrification, batteries and hydrogen – across every productive sector.

Energy

To limit global warming, the first thing to do is pursue a rapid, large-scale energy transition. We need to triple the speed at which we shift towards renewables. This means dismantling the fossil fuel sector in favour of electrification and the adoption of technological innovations such as clean energy storage and hydrogen. Technological and infrastructural innovation can help us change our way of life while improving it. The transition, in fact, also has an impact on our health and wellbeing.

Cities

Cities, metropolises and megacities also have a decisive role to play: they must invest in urban transformations that make these places fit for human beings. Cities that can be navigated and traversed on foot, by bicycle, and where the electrification of public and private transport networks soon becomes a reality.

Industry

The industrial sector must make ever greater use of efficient materials, creating reusable or recyclable products and thereby minimising the share of waste to be disposed of. With regard to materials such as steel, the construction sector and the chemical industry, work must be done to eliminate emissions from production processes. To this end, once again, it is essential that energy be clean.

Agriculture and forests

Finally, there is agriculture and there are forests, which can make an important contribution to reducing and capturing CO2. Benefits that, however, cannot be used as a pretext for delaying emissions reductions. The restoration of ecosystems is essential to safeguarding biodiversity and ensuring the availability of food and water.

António Guterres ✓ @antonioguterres

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The latest @IPCC_CH report is a litany of broken climate promises.

Some government & business leaders are saying one thing, but doing another.

They are lying.

It is time to stop burning our planet.
ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/

♥ 6043💬 243 4 apr 2022 · Apri su X →

Implementing this revolution requires money. And to achieve the mitigation targets by 2030, the financial flow needs to increase by three to six times. Nothing extraordinary, when compared to the economic damage of inaction. Recent history teaches us as much. Prevention can seem pointless, something done for the benefit of others, and yet we have had direct proof of how the most catastrophic consequences of global warming — extreme events — inflict wounds on the community that are far more serious (and costly) to heal. This is why there are no more excuses and no more time: this report has the flavour of a guilty verdict handed down by the tribunal of science against those who continue to lie to us.