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Monday, 02 August 2021

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Less than 100 days for Global Climate Conference COP26 Glasgow UK

Amidst the tsunami of Pandemic of COVID 19 coupled with record-breaking heatwaves, wildfires, devastating floods, melting of polar ice caps and drought across the continents, experts from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), huddled together on 26^th July 2021 to approve a UN report on Science of Climate Change.

The meeting of experts of IPCC Working Group I will continue till 6^th August. The report is titled 'Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis'. It brings together the latest advances in climate science and multiple lines of evidence to provide an up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change.

In these exceptional circumstances of 2021, when the climate-related catastrophe is threatening the very existence of human civilization, finalising the IPCC science report on climate is like reading out the 'science of swimming' to the people who are getting swept and drowned by the floods.

Executive Secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Ms Patricia Espinosa, warned that the world is at a "climate crossroads" and decisions taken this year ( 2021) would determine whether it will be at all possible to limit global warming to 1.5°C above the pre-industrial era by the end of the century. The world is currently on the opposite track and heading for a 3°C rise," she said.

Paradoxically, the 'cross roads' are flooded and the 'science of climate change' is itself on fire. Unlike COVID19 which came abruptly, 'pandemic' which I call 'CLIMA30' is expected to cause havoc by2030 for which early warnings are visible.

Frankly, climate science has already spoken and spoken loudly. The time for action is here. Sadly, apart from the pledges, announcements and 'intended reductions', the world is unmoved. Carbon emissions continue to rise.

The report of IPCC is expected to be released on 9 August, just weeks ahead of the UN General Assembly opening, a G20 summit, and the 197-nation COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. It is the first part of the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report which will be finalised with the Second and Third parts in 2022.

Smart Campus Cloud Network ( SCCN), the action-project of TERRE Policy Centre with universities and Higher Educational Institutes, is building the climate skills to face and address the fast-approaching CLIMA30. (see: sccnhub.com)