Cape Town - More than a century of burning fossil fuels and unsustainable energy and land use worldwide, but in particular in developed countries, has led to global warming of 1.1°C since the start of the industrial revolution.
This is according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Summary for Policy Makers and a longer synthesis report of the Sixth Assessment Cycle.
The report, released this week, brings together the work of leading global scientists over the past six years.
The global warming of 1.1°C has resulted in more frequent and more intense extreme weather events, with devastating impacts on people and nature in every region of the world.
A recent example is cyclone Freddy which killed more than 300 people in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The IPCC found that with every increment of warming, the risks, impacts and related losses and damages escalate.
When these risks combine with other adverse events, such as pollution and loss of biological diversity, they cascade across sectors and regions and become increasingly difficult to manage.
Nothing less than an emergency response will suffice.
“It is therefore important, particularly in this decade, to accelerate efforts to adapt to the reality of a rapidly changing climate and to close the existing adaptation gap,” said Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy.
The IPCC indicates that climate resilient development will become progressively more challenging, particularly beyond 1.5°C.
Without urgent, effective, and equitable action to reduce emissions and adapt, climate change increasingly threatens ecosystems, biodiversity, and the livelihoods and well-being of current and future generations.
Both accelerated adaptation efforts and deep, rapid and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors are required this decade.
According to scientists, global emissions should already be decreasing and be cut by almost half by 2030.
Ultimately, the only way to stabilise warming is to reach net zero CO2 emissions. To limit warming to 1.5°C would require net zero CO2 in the early 2050s, followed by net negative CO2 emissions in the decades thereafter.
“South Africa, through its Nationally Determined Contribution and the Just Transition Framework, is committed to doing its fair share to contribute to limiting global warming to 1.5°C and reaching net zero CO2 emissions by 2050,” said Creecy.
South Africa’s National Adaptation Response Strategy is aligned with measures that are identified by the IPCC as effective, such as promoting on-farm water management and storage, soil moisture conservation and ecosystem-based adaptation such as urban greening, restoration of wetlands and upstream forest ecosystems that have been effective in reducing flood risks and urban heat.
Through the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan, South Africa has identified measures in the electricity, transport and hydrogen sectors and value chains to contribute to the decarbonisation of the economy and will require over R1.5 trillion to be fully implemented.
The IPCC indicates that finance gaps and opportunities are greatest in developing economies, and that a rapid scaling up of finance flows from global capital markets, and supporting public funding from developed economies for enhanced mitigation and accelerated adaptation, can act as a catalyst for accelerating the global shift to sustainable development.
The IPCC also noted that grant based public financing is crucial to accelerate adaptation activity, which is severely underfunded.
Mitigation faces a different challenge: leveraging private finance through public financing by reducing some of the risks inherent in upscaling mitigation, especially in newer sectors and in developing regions, including those facing debt and public financing macro-economic constraints.
Creecy also paid tribute to the South African team that played a crucial role in this sixth assessment cycle, from authors to reviewers and the team guiding the report through its final approval process.
Cape Times