Here is the very final collection of materials for the IPCC AR5 Synthesis Report, which was officially launched this morning in Copenhagen after a week of negotiations, with UNSG Ban Ki-moon and IPCC Chair Ranjendra Pachauri handing over the baton from the scientists to the governments that now need to act on the science they have ordered and endorsed.
There are loads and loads and loads of useful resources below, please skim through and see what’s useful for your efforts to tell the people in your world about all this.
Call us crazy, but we think this report marks a paradigm shift. The concept of completely “phasing out” fossil fuels and driving carbon emissions down to zero has officially landed in the UN system and in the international media debate – just see some of the headlines in today’s media coverage! That’s new and different from past talk about cutting emissions by X% and reaching certain reduction targets by year Z. It reminds us of the time when we were kids and had to get rid of all (not just some) of mummy’s hairsprays and daddy’s deodorants, because the HFCs in those bottle were making the hole in the ozone layer bigger, and we thought we’d be fried like sausages in a pan if we don’t phase out HFCs quickly and entirely.
So here is to making fossil fuels disappear, and phasing in 100% renewables, while shifting the big dollars from dirty to clean energy! The IPCC has told governments that this is what needs to be done, and they have endorsed the report and with it this conclusion. Wow! And isn’t it much easier to explain this to our aunts and uncles than the difficult stuff about ppm targets and 2degC limits that is so hard to engage with for the average person?
As it concludes, we believe the whole AR5 process from Working Group 1 in Stockholm last September to the Synthesis Report here in Copenhagen today has been incredibly useful for the debate about climate action, and has interacted nicely with the political dynamics around the world as well as the impressive public mobilization efforts in recent months.
All this was only possible because of the great support and contributions from many of you out there – especially those who were part of the crew on the ground at the IPCC meetings and those who engaged in the CAN/GCCA communications working group. Well done, people, and big thanks!
And now scroll down and see if there is anything useful for you in our latest, and last, IPCC AR5 resource collection! More from us in a few years time when the IPCC starts planning the AR6 report, maybe 😉