"We must not wait for the IPCC reports, but act immediately."

Julia Steinberger: The synthesis is a summary of the main messages of the 6 recent IPCC reports that make up the "6th Assessment Report" or AR6 (see image below).

These are three special reports (1.5 degrees, oceans and cryosphere, land) and three working group reports (physical science, impacts and adaptation, mitigation). Each of these reports has provided important messages, and the synthesis aims to condense them to the essential.

In summary, global warming is real. It is caused by human activities (especially the burning of fossil fuels (gas, oil, coal) and agriculture-deforestation). The impacts of warming are already visible and dangerous, both for human societies and biodiversity, in all regions of the world (land, oceans, cryosphere), with an intensification of extreme weather events clearly caused by warming. Impacts will continually worsen until warming stabilises. It is possible in some cases to adapt to the impacts of warming, but beyond 2 degrees, even partial adaptation will not be possible.

Current government policies would, however, bring us to around 3 degrees of warming by the end of the century. To comply with the Paris Agreement and stay as close to 1.5 degrees as possible, emissions would have to be halved by 2030 and brought close to zero (net) by 2050. This means that emissions must be cut immediately and massively, because every tenth of a degree counts. Renewable energy is now cheaper per kilowatt-hour than fossil fuels (world average). Reduced energy demand and a plant-dominated diet offer hope that renewable energies can meet the entire energy demand and still provide a decent standard of living for all.

Samuel Jaccard: Regarding the first part of the report (physical basis of climate change), there has been sufficient knowledge, however incomplete, for years to demonstrate that climate disruption is directly associated with human activities and that these activities have negative consequences on ecosystems and biodiversity. Moreover, it is now established that climate change is the main cause of the extreme weather events (floods, droughts, heat waves) that have been much discussed in the media in recent years.

J.S.: There are a lot of scientific results that are published every day, and the UNEP Emissions Gap Report is published every year. The inaction of politicians, companies and citizens (I am thinking in particular of the fact that, in the academic world, we fly to the other side of the world to give a 15-minute speech) is not due to a lack of information from the scientific world, but to misinformation and corruption of our politicians by the fossil fuel lobbies, to put it very clearly.

S.J.: The synthesis report does not present any new conclusions as such, but we can hope that its publication will bring the media/political attention back to the climate issue, while understanding of course that this is not the only subject that is affecting the population at the moment.

J.S: It's like asking if it's too late to stop banging our heads. Of course we would have been better off stopping emissions earlier, but every gigatonne, tonne and kilogram of emissions prevented will still benefit our future. Every fraction of a degree of warming counts. The message is not to focus on one year, or to try to give ourselves permission to do nothing more, as this question might suggest. Our obligation as humans is to reduce emissions to zero as quickly as possible. That's all there is to it.

S.J: Of course there is still time to act. That said, we must bear in mind that time is not on our side. We need concrete, sustainable and internationally concerted action, so that we can perhaps implement effective measures to stabilise and then reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A net zero emissions situation must be achieved as soon as possible, globally.

J.S: We should not fixate on the IPCC. Its work is important but far too slow. We should focus on action. In Switzerland, we have a climate law to pass, and a lot of work to do on our own emissions (for example, our car fleet, made up of far too heavy SUVs, is one of the most polluting in Europe). The vast majority of our economic institutions, starting with the Swiss National Bank, refuse to disinvest from fossil fuels. We should not wait for the IPCC reports, but act immediately. That is the main message.

S.J.: In principle, the IPCC should be mandated to produce a 7th assessment report within a few years. I hope that the focus will be on adaptation, mitigation, in order to offer tangible solutions to policy makers that will allow for a sustainable reduction in emissions.

This article is a repost from L'Actu, UNIL.