The world is on the brink of a man-made climate change disaster. More than a century of burning fossil fuels as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use have led to global warming of 1.1°C above pre -industrial levels. This has resulted in more frequent and more intense extreme weather events that have caused increasingly dangerous impacts on nature and people in every region of the world. However, multiple different methods can still be used to adapt to it and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released Monday, they’re all available now.
“Mainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages for nature and people, but it will also provide wider benefits,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee. “This Synthesis Report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that, if we act now, we can still secure a liveable, sustainable future for all.”
Some of the ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enabling sustainable development are as follows:
- Enable access to clean energy and technology;
- Use low-carbon methods of traveling such as walking, bicycles, and public transport;
- Make effective and equitable conservation of around 30%-50% of the Earth’s land, ocean, and freshwater; and
- Increase finance to climate investments.
All of these methods are available, and with government action and public funding, all of them are attainable. Taking action right now, the report noted, could end up being the spark to turn the Earth into a sustainable and equitable world.