IPPC Report - Code Red for Humanity

The IPPC Report was the shit Report Card we all knew we were getting.

Scotty from Marketing immediately shifted the blame claiming the ‘School’ and the ‘Teachers’ were at fault. The report having nothing to do with his love affair of all thing’s fossil especially the ‘black coal.’ In addition to the Government's inability to set any ambitious Climate Targets.   

Since receiving the report, it would seem that Scotty has some serious Parent-Teacher Interviews coming up at COP 26 (UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021) The US Deputy Presidential Climate envoy Dr. Jonathan Pershing suggesting Australia should aim for a 50% cut in emissions by 2030. Whilst Germany ambassador Thomas Fitschen joined calls for Morrison Government to take more ambitious climate action.

Scotty's claim that Australia has done more to cut emissions than other developed countries is not going to be accepted at COP 26. Considering Australia one of the worst-performing in the OECD on climate action, this is just another race we are coming last in.

What the IPCC?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has releases a report that updates World Leaders on the latest information regarding Climate Change.

This is the most important Climate science update for almost a decade. It is an alarming report that includes 14,000 pieces of scientific literature explaining how humanity has literally set the planet on fire. It does have a single message; we are running out of time.

Issuing a 'Code Red for Humanity.'

Key Findings

‘We’ve known for decades that world is warming, but this report tells us that recent changes in the climate are widespread, rapid and intensifying-unprecedented in thousands of years’ KO Barrett, Vice-Chair of the IPPC 

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found the globe’s ocean, lands, and air temperatures are rising and the human influence is ‘unequivocal.’

The report serves to inform policies on emissions reductions and targets.

• The previous five years have been the hottest on record since 1850
• The recent rate of sea-level rise has nearly tripled compared with 1901-1971
• Human influence is very likely (90%) the main driver of the global retreat of glaciers since the 1990s and the decrease in Arctic Sea ice.
• The rate of warming is unprecedented in at least the last two thousand years, as a result of human influence.
• The scale and pace at which humans are altering the climate system has almost no precedent.
• Every additional 0.5C of warming cause clear increases in the intensity of heatwaves, damaging rainfall and droughts.

The world is set to hit an increase of 1.5C by 2030 if nothing changes.

This increase in 1.5C has the following impacts.  

Impact 'The World’

• Sea levels rise to 2m
• Melting of Ice sheets
• Warming and acidification of oceans
• Intense and frequent heatwaves
• Heavy rainfall events
• Prolonged drought

 Australia will see the following impacts 

• More intense and longer bushfire season
• Heavier rainfall and more river flooding
• More coastal floods and shoreline erosion
• More extreme hot days

Scientists say it’s still possible to limit warming to about 1.5C.

Recommendations

Emission reductions are the best way to avoid the devastating effects of climate change.

The world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases must produce a clear plan to cut their carbon output drastically. What this means is having a Government who willing to act on climate change and set ambitious 2030 and 2050 targets is imperative. Ahem, Australia - they're all looking at you.

What's Next

The Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow this November.

Alol Sharma, the UK minister who will preside over the summit has stated ‘If ever there was going to be a wake-up call to the world when it comes to climate change, this report is it. But the future is not yet written. The very worst of climate change is still avoidable.        

The Paris Climate Agreement ambition of limiting warming to 1.5C, and staving off the worst impacts of climate breakdown, was “still achievable, but retreating and retreating fast”, he said.

“What we really need now is for all major emitters to play their part, and the G20 is going to be key to our 1.5C future,” he added. G20 governments, comprising the world’s biggest economies and including developed and developing countries, are responsible for about 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and about 85% of GDP.

"As soon as we decide to treat the Climate Crisis as a crisis – everything can change overnight. We can still make the seemingly impossible possible." - Greta Thunberg.

What else and how can I get involved? 

There are a number of key environmental issues being discussed in Parliament at the moment that we are keeping an eye on.  

Beetaloo Basin - A major proposal at Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory could increase Australia’s emission by 20% if it goes ahead, largely due to leaking methane, which is a more potent gas than carbon dioxide.

Traditional owners have also condemned government for fracking handouts to gas companies. A senate inquiry recently heard that the Morrison Government awarded a $21m in grants to Empire Energy - a company chaired by a Liberal donor for exploration at Beetaloo Basin.  Click here to get involved 

Gas Production 12 Apostles - ‘Bonkers’ Victoria approves gas drilling 5km from the 12 Apostles.

The government has given consent for South Australian oil and gas company Beach Energy to produce gas extracted from beneath the Port Campbell national park in the state’s southwest, near the celebrated Twelve Apostles. Click here to get involved.

(PEP 11) - The amazing NSW coastline is being threatened by Petroleum Exploration Permit 11 (PEP-11), a proposal to open an offshore oil and gas field from Sydney to Newcastle. It puts at risk the most populated and prosperous stretch of coast in Australia. Click here to get involved

Seismic Testing King Island -  Surfers intercepted the seismic testing ship Geo Coral contracted by ConconPhilips on its way to the Ottaway Basin in search of the best drill targets for oil and gas. Seismic testing is a process that uses powerful blasts of sound to penetrate the ocean floor to collect data on what lies beneath, to determine whether it’s worth drilling. And it’s an absolute disaster for marine life.

Senator Surfer, aka Peter Whish-Wilson, initiated a Senate Inquiry into seismic testing earlier this year. Click here to get involved.

To read about other environmental battlegrounds on the agenda within Australia’s parliament check it out here.