Cindy Carr, cindy.carr@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report 6 Working Group 3 (WG III) released its new report on climate mitigation methods and how to limit global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius, covering everything from mitigation pathways to carbon pollution removal, with chapters dedicated to technology and innovation for the first time in IPCC history. Critically, the report also details why mitigation is both economically feasible and necessary.
The report outlines that remaining below 1.5 degrees Celsius is still possible, but only if the world, specifically the world’s largest polluters, reduces carbon emissions by 43 percent by 2030 and halts all carbon pollution by the early 2050s. Alarmingly, the report found that the current policies of the world’s largest polluters will only marginally reduce carbon emissions by the end of the decade, despite the science confirming this will lock us into at least 1.5 degrees of warming. The science did find that once countries completely stop emitting carbon pollution and achieve a net-zero economy by 2030, the climate crisis will largely stall.
Critically, President Biden’s recently-released budget includes a repeal of fossil fuel subsidies and the largest funding request ever for the US EPA, Department of Energy, and Department of the Interior, yet falls well short of what is needed for US international climate finance commitments, which are critical for helping countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis mitigate and adapt to the world’s new climate reality. Now more than ever, it’s critical that Congress passes the reconciliation bill that would be the largest investment ever in clean energy and climate solutions and will generate millions of jobs.
In response, Cherelle Blazer, the Senior Director of the Sierra Club’s International Climate and Policy Campaign, issued the following statement:
“Report after report by the world’s foremost scientists continue to affirm the imminent dangers of the climate crisis and its impact on our communities, our homes, and our lives. The alarm clock has been going off for years now; yet too often, our leaders aren’t reacting as we need. The choice is clear: heed the science and eliminate carbon emissions now or sentence humanity and our planet to an ‘unlivable world.’
“The IPCC report makes it clear that the time to take decisive and unprecedented action to halt climate catastrophe is now or it will be too late. There is little time and no justification to continue burning fossil fuels and subsidizing corporate polluters at the expense of frontline communities, communities of color, and the future of our planet. The world has only a small window of time left before it will be too late; by that point, no amount of mitigation, adaptation, or financing will be able to salvage the climate.
“President Biden and Congress must seize upon this moment and finally pass the reconciliation bill that includes the largest investment ever in powering our country through clean, affordable renewable energy while generating millions of jobs.”
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About the IPCC and Working Groups: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a research body convened by the United Nations to understand climate change. The IPCC releases reports written by different working groups (WG) that explore specific climate dimensions: WG I focuses on the physical science of climate change, WG II focuses on impacts and vulnerabilities as they relate to adaptation, and WG III focuses on how to address climate change, specifically to reduce risks through mitigation.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.