The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC was approved by the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) on Saturday in Incheon, Republic of Korea. It will be a key scientific input into the Katowice Climate Change Conference in Poland in December 2018, when governments review the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change.
Luis Mundaca, Lead author of the IPCC Special Report and Summary for Policymakers, and Professor of Policy Analysis at the IIIEE at Lund University, says “the feasibility of meeting the 1.5ºC target involves multiple dimensions, and several links, synergies, and trade-offs are identified in the assessment. The assessment clearly shows that rapid change is needed, but this also encompasses unprecedented challenges”.
In a press release the IPCC sent the key message: "Limiting global warming to 1.5ºC would require rapid, far reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society. With clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems, limiting global warming to 1.5ºC compared to 2ºC could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society".
Ninety-one authors and review editors from 40 countries prepared the IPCC report in response to an invitation from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) when it adopted the Paris Agreement in 2015. Luis Mundaca was selected as a lead author, the only scientist representing a Swedish university.
Luis, who was present at the approval meeting in Incheon says, "the economics of 1.5ºC is a very new field, and plenty of attention is being given to abatement costs and finance now, but the emerging scientific knowledge also suggests large potential reduction in economic costs when limiting global warming to 1.5ºC. We urgently need stringent and integrated policy portfolios to keep the 1.5ºC within reach".
Link to Lund University press release
Contact:
Luis Mundaca
luis [dot] mundaca [at] iiiee [dot] lu [dot] se (luis[dot]mundaca[at]iiiee[dot]lu[dot]se)
+46 46 222 02 57