The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) released its most comprehensive report yet on Monday, August 9th. It is the 6th report since the organizations founding in 1988 and the first one since 2014’s fifth assessment report. The report shows that human activity is changing the Earth’s climate in ways that are unprecedented in thousands or hundreds of thousands of years. Some of the changes that are now inevitable and irreversible will require major adaptation from human societies.
Within the next two decades, temperatures are likely to rise by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, exceeding the 2015 Paris climate agreement goal, and bringing widespread devastation and extreme weather around the world. Temperatures today have already risen 1.1C since pre-industrial times. Monday’s report will be followed next year by two further instalments: part two will focus on the physical and social impacts of the climate crisis; and the third will detail the potential solutions that need to implemented.
Books on Climate Change: