MANILA, 21 March 2023 – The latest United Nations climate science report released yesterday affirmed that urgent, ambitious climate action can still guarantee a sustainable, liveable future for all even as global warming has already reached 1.1 degrees Celsius (°C) above pre-industrial levels and emissions continue to rise.

In the synthesis of its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) summarized the science on adaptation and mitigation, as well as impacts and risks brought by climate change five years after the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) “highlighted the unprecedented scale of the challenge required to keep warming to 1.5 degrees.”

Among the highlights of the IPCC AR6 synthesis report are:

  1. Climate change is already much worse than previously projected, and even worse is yet to come because the current pace and scale of climate action is still not enough.
  2. Every degree of warming results in rapidly escalating risks due to climate hazards. More intense heat waves, heavier rainfall and other weather extremes further increase risks for human health and ecosystems. People are dying from extreme heat globally, and food and water insecurity is expected to worsen with increased warming. These risks compounded with pandemics and other conflicts will affect vulnerable economies and communities the most.
  3. The world already has the financial and technological capacity to act on climate change and accelerate the energy transition, and in doing so can also pursue sustainable, climate-resilient development.

Earlier this month, the Oscar M. Lopez Center in partnership with PAGASA launched the State of the 2020 Philippine Climate Report,which showed the average temperature of the country that year was 0.4°C higher than 1991-2021 baselines, with the country experiencing above-normal temperatures in all 12 months of 2020.

In response, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) climate science advisor Lourdes Tibig, a climatologist and IPCC lead author of both AR5 and the special report on climate and the oceans and cryosphere, said:

“The latest IPCC report affirms that dangerous climate change has already set in, judging from the increasingly severe impacts of extreme events and rising losses and damages from slow onset events. No one is spared, but the poorest and most vulnerable continue to bear the brunt. It is high time that world leaders heed the science for us to have a fighting chance to survive and thrive.

“At the regional level, climate impacts have threatened critical sectors in Southeast Asia for years – rice production, food security, energy, forestry, and marine ecosystems. The latest IPCC report echoes the urgent need for Asian countries to step up collaboration, in parallel with undertaking emissions cuts, adaptation measures, and finance initiatives, to reduce significant projected losses.

“However, an assessment of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) released in COP27 showed that none of the G7, G20, or European Union have Paris climate action plans (NDCs) that are 1.5 aligned. This is quite alarming, we need developed country governments to ramp up commitments, and translate these into urgent action. Unless there is drastic global action, we will reach 1.5°C even before mid-century and will need to go back to attaining the goal by 2100. This is going to be very expensive in terms of action, costs, and impacts, with possible abrupt surprises and irreversible damage to both humans and natural and managed ecosystems.

“While the Philippines and the rest of the CVF’s NDCs are 1.5-aligned, we have to act on climate change with far more urgency and ambition to protect millions of lives. As we prioritize adaptation, it is crucial to ensure that it leads to mitigation co-benefits, not because the Paris agreement requires us to, but mainly for the long-term development and resilience of the country.

“As global financial commitments continue to flow, it is also important to reiterate our responsibility for proper allocation of these funds for adaptation and mitigation measures. Transparency and accountability in climate finance is also crucial for developing economies to ensure that development plans and projects deliver urgent, ideal, and sustainable results for a better future for all, because everything counts, and everyone matters.

“The recent findings on the status of the Philippine climate reaffirms those of the IPCC, but it also stresses the need for more national and local studies to further anticipate the magnitude of future impacts and strengthen resilience all the way to community levels.”

ABOUT

The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities is a Manila-based climate and energy policy group advancing climate resilience and low carbon development.

CONTACT

AC Dimatatac : media@icsc.ngo, +63 998 546 9788, +63 917 149 5649

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