After 7 years from the previous one, on Monday the 9th of August the latest report of the Working Group I of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was published. The Working Group I takes care of the physical science basis of climate change, while the Working Group II assesses the vulnerability of natural and socio-economic systems, the impact of climate change and adaptation options and the Working Group III assesses mitigation options for climate change.
The report of the Working Group I attends to give an overview relative to the most up-to-date scientific knowledge on the functioning of climatic system and on climate change. The purpose is to inform policy markers relatively to the present knowledge on past, present and future climate and on possible impacts and risks of climate change.
This report, writtent by 234 authors from 65 countries, is based on the assessment o 14000 scientific publications. Indeed, the IPCC does not carry out its own research but it bases its reports on independent scientific researches already published and review by the scientifc community; those are then once again review for the publication of the report.
The conclusions of the report are alarming:
- human activities are unequivocally the cause of climate change;
- the present rate of warming in unprecedented in the last 2000 years and the global temperature has already risen by 1.1 grades as compared to 1850-1900;
- climate change affects every region in the world;
- some phenomena are non reversible, that is to say that they will continue for hundreds of years; among these there are the increasing ocean temperatures, melting of Greenland icesheet and sea level rise.
The main developments from a scientifc point of view are a more accurate understanding of the responses of climate system to emission of climate-altering gases and a better knowledge of climate and different impacts at the regional basis.
The general picture suggest the urgency to adopt strong, rapid and sustained reductions of green house gases to slow down the irreversible consequences and contain the global temperature rise, limiting the impacts on ecosystems and on socio-economic systems.
To learn more:
Working Group I Report: Climate Change 2021. The Physical Science Basis
International Panel on Climate Change
World Meteorological Organisation
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