IPCC report - it's unequivocal that human influence has changed our planet
Trillion Trees today welcomes the IPCC’s milestone report documenting unequivocally that human-caused emissions have warmed the planet, and that we are dangerously close to not being able to reverse this. With further emissions, we will see further warming, more frequent and intense rainfall, increased drought, more frequent fires and continued warming and acidification of our oceans.
But the authors also stressed that there is hope if we act now. We have to rapidly reduce emissions - particularly focusing on drastically reducing the use of fossil fuels to reach net-zero by 2050 - if we are to have any chance to staying below a 1.5C increase.
Of course, as Trillion Trees, we are already convinced of the power of nature-based solutions delivering now for the climate, and so call urgently for the world to meet its commitments to halting deforestation. In 2020 alone, deforestation of primary forest accounted for about 7% of global carbon emissions. If we continue to lose our forests, more carbon will be released into the atmosphere and at the same time we lose a proven, critically important system for reducing and storing carbon.
John Lotspeich, Executive Director of Trillion Trees, said, “The sense of urgency in the IPCC’s report is frightening, but at the same time, motivating. Climate change has often seemed a distant global problem that is too big to tackle. But here, for the first time, advanced modelling and regionalisation of the data make it easier for implementers and policymakers to know in much more detail what is coming, where, and therefore what they are fighting to prevent. We welcome this major step forward in our battle to stabilise the climate.”
This year, governments have the chance to make bold, necessary commitments to address the interconnected crises of climate and biodiversity. As we look to COP26 in particular, we urge every nation to act to avert the potential catastrophe that the report details. We have a brief window of opportunity to succeed, and we and others will be there to hold governments accountable for their pledges.
Read the report here: www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#FullReport
