At least 3.6 billion people across the globe have high vulnerability to climatic hazards, said scientists in the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released on Monday, March 20. The IPCC is made up of 195 member countries.

The new report says that half of the global population now experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year, explaining that weather extremes are "increasingly driving displacement” of people in Africa, Asia, North, Central, and South America, and the South Pacific.

Temperatures are now about 1.1C above pre-industrial levels, the IPCC found.

"Mainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages for nature and people, it will also provide wider benefits,” said IPCC Chair, Hoesung Lee.

In 2018, IPCC highlighted the unprecedented scale of the challenge required to keep warming to 1.5°C.

Five years later, that challenge has become even greater due to a continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions, scientists have warned, saying that the pace and scale of what has been done so far, and current plans, are insufficient to tackle climate change.

"More than a century of burning fossil fuels, as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use, has 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,” the report says.

"Every increment of warming results in rapidly escalating hazards. More intense heatwaves, heavier rainfall, and other weather extremes further increase risks for human health and ecosystems. In every region, people are dying from extreme heat. Climate-driven food and water insecurity is expected to increase with increased warming.”

The report, approved during a week-long session in Interlaken, brings into sharp focus the losses and damages that the globe is already experiencing.

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"Climate justice is crucial because those who have contributed least to climate change are being disproportionately affected,” said Aditi Mukherji, one of the 93 authors of this Synthesis Report.

"Almost half of the world’s population lives in regions that are highly vulnerable to climate change. In the last decade, deaths from floods, droughts, and storms were 15 times higher in highly vulnerable regions,” she added.

Meanwhile, keeping warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels requires deep, rapid, and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors.

"Emissions should be decreasing by now and will need to be cut by almost half by 2030. For example; access to clean energy and technologies improves health, especially for women and children; low-carbon electrification, walking, cycling and public transport enhance air quality, improve health, employment opportunities, and deliver equity.”

"The greatest gains in wellbeing could come from prioritising climate risk reduction for low-income and marginalised communities, including people living in informal settlements,” said Christopher Trisos, one of the report’s authors.

Effective and equitable conservation of approximately 30-50 per cent of the earth’s land, freshwater, and ocean will help ensure a healthy planet, recommends the report, adding, "Changes in the food sector, electricity, transport, industry, buildings, and land-use can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

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UNDP reacts to the report

Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said, "As extreme weather hits with increasing ferocity – including devastating droughts, floods, and heatwaves — the fingerprint of climate change is evident in every corner of the globe. There can be no doubt that the health of people and the planet hinges on decisive political action now.”

"It outlines how feasible, effective, and low-cost options for climate mitigation and adaptation are already at the disposal of countries across the world,” he said.

For instance, that includes widespread electrification from clean energy sources, energy and materials efficiency, and the restoration of forests and other ecosystems. It also calls for an increased emphasis on reducing fluorinated gases — human-made gases used in a range of industrial applications — to drive down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change, he added.

"The science is clear that we can keep 1.5C alive with sound, evidence-based policy-making. I echo the call of the UN Secretary-General for the Acceleration Agenda and for immediate, strong, and sustained reductions in GHG emissions to reach global net zero by 2050. Indeed, the adverse impacts of climate change will increase with every fraction of a degree,” he said.

Extending promised means including finance

Steiner said that high-income countries must extend the promised means including finance, debt relief, and partnerships to developing countries to address climate change and development as co-investments, based on the recognition that only collective action by our global community will be sufficient.

"That includes developed countries finally delivering on the long overdue promise of extending at least $100 billion per year in climate finance to developing countries,” he said.

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Over three billion people — including some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities who have historically contributed the least to the current climate crisis — are disproportionately experiencing its worst effects. It is also holding back their efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, he noted.

"Through the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) partnerships with countries and communities across the world, we are witnessing visionary leadership. For instance, Bhutan, Viet Nam, and India are leading in the adoption of electric vehicles. Kenya and Uruguay are now running on 90 per cent renewable energy sources. And Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries are notably taking far-reaching climate action despite a constrained fiscal space and a debt crisis,” he said.

There are signs that the journey to net zero is picking up pace as the world looks to the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference or COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, he added

John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate, said, "Today’s message from the IPCC is abundantly clear; we are making progress, but not enough. We have the tools to stave off and reduce the risks of the worst impacts of the climate crisis, but we must take advantage of this moment to act now.”