When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tells you it is time to worry – start worrying. Without falling into apocalyptic rhetoric, here are some key findings from the 5th IPCC report you need to know:
- Sea level is most definitely rising (7.5” since 1901). In fact, sea level may rise as high as 5-10 metres. While this may not seem like much, 95km2 of the City of Cape Town would be covered with only a 6.5m rise in sea levels (http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/DRM/Pages/Sea-evelRise.aspx). This would cause billions of Rands of damage for the City.
- The melt rate of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has increased by several times in the last decade compared to the 1990s. The Greenland ice sheet is expected to continue melting at a rapid pace, and almost melt entirely. Greenland melting would mean a 7m sea level rise.
- To add to this, since warmer weather holds more precipitation, rain, hail and snow are increasing. This will result in drier areas becoming drier and wetter regions becoming wetter. The resultant floods and droughts could have a serious impact on both human and food security.
- The above is especially bad news when the report warns that climate change impacts on food security are worse than previously thought – especially with regards to staple crops.
- The IPCC report has cautioned that we should expect extreme temperatures – such as those we have seen in the past few years in the form of heat waves and some cold, cold winters.
- The ocean is becoming increasingly acidic, threatening the survival of ocean ecosystems
- To top this off scientists have warned that we should prepare for extreme weather events.
For all of the above climate change effects, the 5th IPCC report has found that Greenhouse Gas emissions are the key driver.
The debate about whether climate change is happening, and if we are causing it is, for all intents and purposes over – scientists are now more certain than ever (95%) that climate change is happening and it is human beings that are responsible. Climate change is with us, and it is getting worse.
The report warns that climate related problems are feeding off of each other – from food insecurity to poverty. Climate change issues are expansive: climate refugees; land loss; job losses in fisheries and crop production; natural disasters on the rise and worsening; conflicts around resources heightening human security issues and refugees; increased diseases including malaria, dengue fever, asthma, Lyme disease and more; rising energy costs; decreasing fresh water supply with increasing water demands; and the loss of biodiversity and the destruction of ecosystems.
These are frightening consequences for delaying our change in the economy and behaviour. Adaption to climate change and disaster risk management is crucial.
Furthermore, the IPCC report also warns that much of the pollution we have already emitted will stay with us for millennia and thus significant impacts will be felt, despite the global campaign to prevent a 4 degree warmer world. The 5th IPCC report now predicts the climate will increase by 4-5 degrees at current rates. Governments need to make decisions fast about how to cut climate pollution quickly.
Climate Change is expensive, and the longer we wait to curb it, the more expensive it gets. Climate change threatens the natural world, human lives, politics, and our economies.
It is crucial to remember that economists may not have all the answers – unprecedented international disaster is looming – it is difficult to predict the impacts and the rate of adaption to the untold crises.
It is time to make the change to a cleaner, greener economy. We need to encourage divestments from brown energy, investments in green sectors especially renewables, and companies need to begin greening their operations with immediate effect.
What are you doing to encourage the growth of the green economy?