Representatives from 195 countries on Friday approved a critical UN science report which will provide the foremost comprehensive and up-to-date assessment yet of the state of Earth’s climate.
“Today, #IPCC’s latest #ClimateReport — #ClimateChange 2021: the physics Basis — was approved and accepted during a historical first virtual approval session,” the Intergovernmental Panel on global climate change tweeted on Friday.
Today, #IPCC’s latest #ClimateReport, #ClimateChange 2021: the Physical Science Basis, was approved and accepted in a historical first virtual approval session.
The press conference to release the report will be held live at 10am CEST on 9 August. ➡️ https://t.co/40X0Fv6E99 pic.twitter.com/OSk2J4Qxkv
— IPCC (@IPCC_CH) August 6, 2021
The report is about to be released on Monday.
IPCC delegates are locked in virtual negotiations for 2 weeks, vetting a 30-page “summary for policymakers” — line-by-line, word-by-word — of an underlying scientific report years within the making.
“This was such a tremendous experience, so proud to be alittle a part of this great team and what we’ve achieved,” German climatologist and IPCC contributor Friederike Otto said on Twitter.
It's approved!! This was such an amazing experience, so proud to be a small part of this great team and what we have achieved. Too many people to tag… Congratulations & huge thank yous!! pic.twitter.com/vayVdMspQH
— Dr Friederike Otto (@FrediOtto) August 6, 2021
Finalised in historical virtual session, the report will provide most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment yet of state of Earth’s climate
On the heels of deadly floods in India, China and northern Europe also as asphalt-melting heatwaves in North America and southern Europe, the IPCC’s report assesses the newest climate science.
The world has changed since its last comprehensive assessment in 2014.
With increasingly sophisticated technology allowing scientists to live global climate change and predict its future path, the report is predicted to form for harrowing reading.
It will project global temperature changes until the top of the century under different emissions scenarios.
Based almost entirely on published research, it could forecast — even under optimistic scenarios — a short lived “overshoot” of the 1.5C target of the Paris Agreement, and upwardly revised estimates for long-term sea-level rise.
It is also expected to reflect huge progress in so-called attribution science, which allows experts to link individual extreme weather events on to man-made global climate change .
While the underlying IPCC report is only scientific, the summary for policymakers is negotiated by national representatives, and thus subject to competing priorities.
Belgian climate physicist and former IPCC co-chair Jean-Pascal Ypersele, who was party to the negotiations, said the talks were guided by the underlying science.
“I can testify that the authors of the #ClimateReport had the last word on every sentence within the SPM, which really was a Summary FOR (and not BY) policymakers,” he said on Twitter.
I can testify that the authors of the #ClimateReport had the last word on every sentence in the SPM, which was really a Summary FOR (and not BY) Policy Makers. The Belgian delegation insisted that it would be so. #IPCC #AR6 @IPCC_CH @belspo https://t.co/Skn7Zm8N3i
— Prof. Jean-Pascal van Ypersele (@Mastodon.World) (@JPvanYpersele) August 6, 2021
The report comes but three months before the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, which are seen as vital for humanity’s chance of limiting the worst impacts of worldwide warming.
French climatologist Corinne Le Quere congratulated the delegates for finalising “the text of what i feel are going to be one among the foremost important scientific reports ever published”.
