Switzerland: A new United Nations report has stated that the world has the tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and secure a sustainable future if more ambitious actions are taken. The report noted that actions taken so far are not enough to deal with the growing threats of climate change.
A UN panel of scientists stated in a synthesis report that there are multiple, feasible, and effective options to adapt to climate change.
“Mainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages for nature and people, it will also provide wider benefits,” Mr. Hoesung Lee, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), commented on the report.
The report “underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that, if we act now, we can still secure a liveable sustainable future for all”, Mr. Lee added.
The report summarised the findings of several previous IPCC assessments and came after a week of deliberations in Interlaken, Switzerland.
According to the report, carbon emissions need to be cut by almost half by 2030 if global warming is to be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius. “The pace and scale of what has been done so far, and current plans, are insufficient to tackle climate change,” it added.
The report further observed that effective and equitable conservation of about 30 to 50 percent of the world’s land, freshwater, and oceans will help ensure a healthy world, along with stressing the need to finance poorer nations that are the most vulnerable to climate change.