Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the contribution from Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report – Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis. The report brings together the most recent advances in climate science to outline the current state of climate change.
“Today’s IPCC report on the physical science basis of climate change unfortunately confirms that human-induced climate change is now happening faster and more intensely than predicted in their Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C. In addition, today’s report also contains two important lessons for local and regional governments. First, using data from over 14,000 studies, the report shows region-specific changes to climate, meaning that our cities, towns and regions will have a clearer picture of what to expect in the coming decades and how to protect the lives and livelihoods of residents in more frequent and intense extreme weather events. Second, the findings reinforce how critical it is to achieve net zero emissions as soon as possible through an all hands on deck approach. Local and regional governments must be a part of immediate and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through multilevel collaboration with national governments if we are to have any chance of holding the line at 1.5°C and avoiding the most devastating impacts of climate change.”
Gino Van Begin
Secretary General
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability