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This morning, the third installment of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report – this one on mitigation – was formally released. The report makes a very strong case for climate action and is already being carried along by a wave of rather positive media coverage. We’re happy to provide you in this email our updated resources based on the final Summary for Policy Makers negotiated here in Berlin.

The attached Resource Pack features an all new overview and messaging section highlighting the positive outcome here in Berlin. We’ve updated the template PR and put the key findings in an appendix to make the document easier to navigate. Also attached is a Carbon Nexus infographic on the low costs of mitigation, one of the strongest messages coming out of this new report.

Apart from that you find a wealth of resources below, including social media content such as memes, graphics, photos, and videos. There are also reactions and quotes from NGOs and others, a good overview of media coverage in international outlets, debunking and rebuttal material, and background resources on various themes covered by the report. We hope you’ll find stuff that helps you add your voice to the debate around this!

 

All that and more below and attached, thanks a lot and have a nice day!

 

Christian

 

 

Overview

 

The Working Group I (WGI) chapter of the 5th Assessment Report (AR5) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – launched in Stockholm last September – found that human interference with the climate is occurring, and that climate change is unequivocal. The Working Group II (WGII) report launched in Yokohama, Japan, earlier this month, dealt with the risk of climate change to society, how to manage this risk, what level of risk is deemed acceptable and the set of values upon which such judgements are made.

 

After a week of negotiations in Berlin, Germany, Working Group III (WGIII) has today published its report on climate change mitigation options. The report makes it clear that we can still keep global warming below 2 degrees C compared to pre-industrial levels. Even keeping warming below 1.5 degrees C hasn’t been ruled out.

Achieving this and securing a safe climate future will not cost the earth, according to the IPCC. In business-as-usual scenarios, consumption grows by 1.6 to 3 per cent per year. Ambitious mitigation would reduce this growth by only around 0.06 percentage points a year, i.e. 2.94 per cent growth instead of 3 per cent growth. The economic assessments of the cost of mitigation in the new IPCC report don’t even include the co-benefits of taking action – such as better public health and increased energy efficiency – or the cost savings which result from avoiding future impacts.

The IPCC says that large scale changes in the global energy mix are required, combined with deep and fast emissions cuts. We have to almost quadruple our use of zero and low carbon energy by 2050, to have any chance of keeping warming below the 2 degrees C threshold.

The new report says that renewable energies must be a significant part of this change, are an increasingly attractive option, and have strong future prospects – particularly if governments put in place stronger enabling policies. The major expansion and price reduction associated with renewables such as solar PV and onshore wind makes them the energy sources of choice.

The report highlights that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to rise, and have risen faster over the past ten years than during the previous thirty years. The energy sector, especially coal power, is the biggest culprit. To this end, the IPCC states that the stabilization of GHG concentrations at low levels will have to include the “long-term phase-out of unabated fossil fuel conversion technologies”.

The report points out that substantial shifts in annual investment flows between 2010 and 2029 are required, i.e. cuts in fossil fuel investments of $30 billion per year, while more than doubling the investment in renewables. Delaying mitigation action now implies higher costs of action later, says the IPCC, while the co-benefits of actions taken now can outweigh their costs.

 

The report also discusses controversial technology options including carbon removal technologies such as Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), and nuclear. But it makes a clear case for renewables as the preferred option given the fact they are ready for use and significantly more cost efficient than other technologies.

The next two decades are full of opportunity for climate action, concludes the IPCC. Now policymakers need to take the report as an urgent reminder to ramp up their efforts and ensure faster and deeper cuts in emissions. Governments own this report, they have ordered it, so they are expected to take it seriously, and reflect the science in their policies.

 

For more information about the IPCC AR5 WG3 report and a detailed list of key findings from the report, please check out our Global Resource Pack.

 

Actions

 

 

Key Points

 

  • Climate change is real, caused by human activity, and requires urgent action. Sea levels are rising, precipitation patterns are changing, sea ice is declining and oceans are acidifying.This will have grave consequences for our communities, environments and economies and leave them open to risks for which we are not prepared.

 

  • We need to accelerate climate action starting today. We are already experiencing severe impacts on every continent and across the oceans, resulting in growing economic and social costs. We have to brace ourselves for more frequent or more intense droughts, floods and storms. Civilisation as we know it at risk – unless we cut carbon pollution rapidly.

 

  • We can keep global warming below the danger-threshold of 2 degrees C, even below 1.5 degrees of warming. But this is only possible if we make deeper and faster emissions cuts and all governments introduce ambitious policies, backed by strong investments, to enable clean and innovative energy solutions.

 

  • Tackling climate change will not cost the earth. In business-as-usual scenarios, consumption grows by 1.6 to 3 per cent per year. Ambitious mitigation would reduce this growth by only around 0.06 percentage points a year. This estimate does not take into account economic co-benefits of taking action and avoiding future damage, meaning that mitigation will cost virtually nothing, while bringing about a host of advantages.

 

  • The report confirms the need for a complete phase out of fossil fuels and CO2 emissions. It highlights the need to divest at least $30 billion dollars per year from fossil fuels over the coming decades, and for annual investment in low carbon electricity supply to grow $147 billion a year.

 

  • Renewable energy can power our society, drive the economy, and give us cleaner air. Moving from fossil fuel based energy supplies to renewables will result in a wide range of benefits – including new jobs and improved public health. The clean energy transition is inevitable, people are demanding it, and it is already underway. Governments need to put in place the enabling policies so these technologies can be scaled up faster.

 

  • The longer we delay action to foster the low carbon transition, the more expensive addressing climate change will get. At a UN summit in September,world leaders must commit to deeper cuts in emissions and faster shifts in energy finance from dirty fossil fuels to clean renewables. This will lay the groundwork for the strong global climate treaty that’s due in Paris in 2015.

Resources

From briefing documents, to recent coverage, infographics and videos, here are some key resources which could help you better understand the IPCC process and aid your messaging

 

General resources

 

 

Reactions

 

 

General background

 

 

Economic background

 

 

Health background

 

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