Climate Change Is ‘A Hammer That Hits Our Head’, Evolving

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“It’s like a turbocharger,” said Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, for some of the legal strategies that Greenpeace and other organizations have followed in the courts for years. Earlier this year, Greenpeace successfully sued Royal Dutch Shell in a Dutch court using evidence from an earlier UN report.

“I expect the speed and scale of calls to action to be louder than ever, greater than ever before, whether they are in courtrooms, on the streets or in committee hearings,” Ms Morgan said.

Hours after the report was published, demonstrations were scheduled in London and other cities this month.

The report shows that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the same levels or only slightly decrease, the outcome will continue to be warming and worsening effects, at least for the remainder of the century. But if governments make sudden and drastic cuts in emissions, they could stabilize the climate to around 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming compared to pre-industrial levels.

The Earth has already warmed by about 1.1 degrees Celsius, or about 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

Despite the concussion the report sent through the world’s capitals, it was clear that some of the biggest polluters, including China and the United States, were unlikely to make the kind of immediate turn that scientists said was necessary to move away from fossil fuels. global average temperatures up to 1.5 or even 2 degrees Celsius, higher The limit set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement, an international agreement to combat global warming. Almost every country that has signed the agreement is far from fulfilling its commitments.

At this point, every fraction of warming to some degree will accelerate sea level rise, which could threaten the very existence of some island nations, along with more devastating floods, more deadly heat waves and worsening droughts, the report said.

The United States, which has historically pumped more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any other country, promised in April to roughly halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. While this is an ambitious target, it is slightly below the target stipulated by law. significantly below the European Union and the UK.

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