Synthesis Report of IPCC AR6

GS Paper 3

Syllabus: Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment

Source: TH

Context: According to an IPCC report, climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health and a window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all is fast closing.

Background:

• Through its multiple assessment cycles beginning in 1990, the IPCC has analysed research by scientists on
  • Global warming,
  • The role humans have had in exacerbating it,
  • The long-term climate impact from current and future emissions and what people can do about it.
• The IPCC does not itself undertake scientific assessments but only evaluates the state of scientific evidence on various aspects of climate change.
• The 6th Assessment Report (AR6) assesses scientific, technical, and socio-economic information concerning climate change.

About the Synthesis Report: This is the final report of the AR6, which integrates findings from six reports (3 working groups + 3 special reports) released by IPCC during the cycle which began in 2015.

Highlights of the Synthesis report of the AR6:

6 key messages for policymakers:

• Excess emissions from human activities have raised global temperature by 1.1°C above 1850-1900.
• Current policy action will lead to further temperature rise, and the impacts on humans and other forms of life will become more severe.
• At current emissions levels, we will deplete the remaining carbon budget (of 500 GtCO2).
• We need to cut GHG emissions across all sectors urgently, within this decade and no later.
• We have all the solutions we need to shift to low-carbon economic systems. These include –
  • Widespread electrification,
  • Diversifying energy generation to include more wind, solar, and small-scale hydropower,
  • Deploying more battery-powered electric vehicles, and
  • Conserving and restoring forests while also reducing tropical deforestation.
• Political commitment and equity are key to enabling this shift – there is enough finance, it needs to be directed to climate action

Challenges:

• Overshooting 1.5°C (expected in the early 2030s) will result in irreversible adverse impacts on certain ecosystems with low resilience (polar, mountain, coastal ecosystems, etc).
• Adaptation gaps exist and will continue to grow if no action is taken and the lower-income group will suffer the most.
  • Though developed countries commit to jointly mobilise $100 billion in climate finance annually, current global financial flows for adaptation are insufficient.
• Some parts of the world (tropical, coastal, polar and mountain ecosystems) have already reached their adaptation limits.
  • This means adaptive actions cannot avoid negative impacts there.
• There is increased evidence of maladaptation (changes in natural/human systems that inadvertently increase vulnerability to climate stimuli) in various sectors and regions.
  • For example, mangrove plantation in coastal Odisha has disturbed the local ecosystems, affecting marginalised and vulnerable groups adversely.
• There are multiple barriers (variable impacts, risks and co-benefits in deploying them) to implementing carbon capture and storage (CCS) – a climate change mitigation tool that removes CO2 from the atmosphere

Implications of the report for India: Increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events – could have dire consequences for agriculture, the economy and public health.

Opportunity: There is a 50-50 chance that by 2030, the global surface temperature in any individual year could exceed 1.5C.

Recent efforts: The loss and damage (L&D) finance facility, which came into prominence during the COP27 (Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt) to the UNFCCC, aims to provide financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change.

Way ahead:

• Engaging public-private sector to mobilise sufficient finances
• Citizens must be provided with climate literacy to drive political commitment, research and urgency towards adaptation.
• Enabling conditions such as policy instruments, greater public support and technological innovation could reduce barriers to CCS.
• The policymakers must prioritise investments in disaster risk reduction, including early warning systems, evacuation plans, and infrastructure development to protect vulnerable populations.

Conclusion:

• Certain future changes are unavoidable but could be limited by deep, rapid and sustained global GHG emissions reduction based on the principle of climate justice.
• Therefore, mainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages, but will also provide wider benefits.

Insta Links:

IPCC Report

Prelims Links: (UPSC 2015)