cover image: IPCC Unsummarized - Unmasking Clear Warnings on Overshoot, Techno-fixes, and the

20.500.12592/d03jct

IPCC Unsummarized - Unmasking Clear Warnings on Overshoot, Techno-fixes, and the

20 Apr 2022

Drawing on the full Working Group III report, the companion reports from Working Groups I and II, and the IPCC’s 2018 Special Report on 1.5°C, this briefing reveals a clear consensus within the IPCC on the urgent need to transition from fossil fuels, the necessity and feasibility of staying below 1.5°C, and the risks of overshoot and future techno-fixes. [...] Recurrent inclusion in the scientific literature of approaches, like large-scale CDR, that do nothing to reduce emissions and pose precisely the equity and justice concerns raised in the IPCC’s Working Group II report, evinces a profound and dangerous disconnect between the science on the impacts and causes of climate change and the mitigation research funded by governments and corporations. [...] The incontrovertible nature of the physical science of climate change and its accelerating impacts, addressed in the Working Group I and II reports, is in marked contrast to the highly contested and contingent nature of the economic assumptions and policy choices considered in the Working Group III report. [...] The process for preparing the SPM parallels that of other IPCC documents up through the review of the first draft of the SPM, which is prepared by the report authors and reviewed by governments and experts simultaneously with the Second Order Draft of the full report. [...] The final review and approval for the Working Group III Summary for Policymakers extended a full three days beyond the scheduled close of the process, culminating in the longest approval plenary session in the thirty-four-year history of the IPCC.22 Protracted negotiations in the closing hours of the Approval Plenary delayed the publication and release of the report by several hours.23 Observers e.
Pages
34
Published in
Germany