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“Code red” for urgent action

9 August 2021

“Code red” for urgent action

In its 13 chapters and 1,800 pages, the UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change’s (IPCC) sixth assessment report published today warns that global warming will reach dangerously alarming levels soon.

Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general, described it as a “code red for humanity”. 

Global warming is expected to reach the 1.5C limit set by the Paris Agreement within the next 20 years and to breach it after 2040, even with rapid cuts in emissions, the report says in stark terms.

“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred," it says. 

“Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has strengthened since the Fifth Assessment Report [in 2013],” it adds. 

The findings are based on 14,000 studies and agreed by 700 scientists from around the globe. They have been approved by the governments of the 195 UN member countries, giving them considerable weight. 

The report will provide more impetus in the drive towards adopting solutions, such as switching to clean technology to reach net zero, capturing future carbon releases and burying them, or absorbing them by planting trees. 

However, we will also eventually need more guidance on the solutions available. Much of the technology we read about is embryonic or evolving, from battery powered products and electric cars, to solar panels and hydrogen fuel. And it carries a correspondingly higher price tag. 

The Site-Eco area of the blog is still very new but what’s already apparent is the willingness of the hire industry to embrace new solutions and to seek knowledge about them. 

However, no-one wants to make a mistake by choosing a technology or system that turns out to be an expensive failure or is quickly superseded. 

More importantly, perhaps, there are still many questions about what being ‘green’ really means.

As one hirer said to me recently, an electric car or truck might be eco-friendly at the point of use, but if producing the battery involves mining scarce minerals in a remote country and transporting them thousands of miles, is that really sustainable? 

And ideally we need to agree strategies and procedures that all countries can adopt jointly, rather than pursuing individual paths and leaving technological development to the vagaries of the free market.

Perhaps things will become clearer after the COP26 global climate summit this November in Glasgow. And the sooner the better for the planet’s sake.  

Picture: Avtar Kamani/Pixabay 

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