New IPCC report recommends zero carbon emissions by 2100

In the latest report from its investigations into human influence on the Earth’s climate, the IPCC, or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has indicated that to maintain global warming within a 2 degrees Celsius range it will be necessary to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40 to 70 percent between 2010 and 2050, and to zero by 2100. IPCC is a world body for assessing the science of climate change. It was established by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program, and has been endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly.

Although some people are skeptical about theories linking human activity to the warming of the climate, the IPCC is adamant about the role of carbon dioxide emissions in the warming trend.

“The report expresses with greater certainty than in previous assessments the fact that emissions of greenhouse gases and other anthropogenic drivers have been the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century,” according to a press release issued by the IPCC on Nov. 2. “The impacts of climate change have already been felt in recent decades on all continents and across the oceans.”

Delaying further carbon dioxide emission reductions to 2030 will substantially increase the technological, economic, social and institutional challenges associated with limiting the warming trend to below 2 degrees Celsius, relative to pre-industrial levels, the goal set by governments, the press release says.

The IPCC said that its report draws on many years of work by the scientific community, with contributions from more than 830 authors and editors from more than 80 countries, with support provided by more than 1,000 contributing authors and 2,000 expert reviewers. In preparing the report, the authors reviewed more than 30,000 scientific papers, the IPCC said.

- Alan Bailey