New IPCC report on climate change

“It has been clear for decades that the Earth’s climate is changing, and the role of human influence on the climate system is undisputed,” said IPCC Working Group I (WG1) Co-Chair Valérie Masson-Delmotte when the new IPCC report, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, was released a few days ago. 

The message of the IPCC report is clear; scientists all over the world are seeing severe changes in the global climate. As a result, the extreme weather events are coming more often and are more extreme. 

“Climate change is already affecting every region on Earth, in multiple ways. The changes we experience will increase with additional warming,” said IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair Panmao Zhai. Carbon dioxide is the main driver of climate change, together with other greenhouse gases such as methane.

Human activities are responsible for more than 1°C of warming since pre-industrial time, and will continue to rise over the coming decades. It will not take long until we reach 1.5°C of warming. With the pace of emissions shown today, it will not be possible to limit the warming to 1.5°C or even 2°C, leading to catastrophic and irrevocable consequences. 

SLU will host a serie of climate conversations 

SLU Future Food and SLU Urban Futures, together with SLU Global, SLU Future One Health and SLU Future Forests, will host an open seminar 26 August to discuss the report and how SLU, as one of the top leading research universities within the agricultural sciences, can contribute to a more sustainable development both locally and globally. Don't forget to register to the seminar!

This is an opportunity to discuss the current scientific knowledge about climate change in a series of conversations. The open seminar 26 August is the second in a serie of internal and external climate conversations during the coming year. Read more about all the climate conversations. 

What can we do?

According to the report, humans still have the chance to change the negative path and choose a better, more sustainable future for the earth and for coming generations. 

“Stabilizing the climate will require strong, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and reaching net zero carbon dioxide emissions. Limiting other greenhouse gases and air pollutants, especially methane, could have benefits both for health and the climate,” said Zhai.