Response to the IPCC Working Group I Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report

The findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report confirm that we must urgently and drastically scale up action to address climate change in this decade, accelerate efforts to respond to the impacts that are already happening, and prepare for them to get much worse.

The report finds that only the most stringent efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions will keep a 1.5C future in reach. This is a clarion call for action.

We therefore call on all Parties to the Paris Agreement to align their NDCs and national policies with a pathway to halve emissions by 2030 and keep 1.5C within sight, including by updating NDCs ahead of COP26. These pledges must be backed by national policies that can deliver dramatic emissions reductions, like eliminating fossil fuel subsidies and phasing out coal.

This report, which builds on decades of research, is clear that delay is no longer an option if we hope to avert the most dangerous impacts of climate change. The report makes it incontrovertible that the unprecedented extreme weather events we are already experiencing today are only projected to increase in frequency and intensity. Even if we stay within a 1.5C carbon budget, no country will evade its impacts. Therefore, at COP26, countries must commit to significantly scale up adaptation action and finance to build resilience to the impacts of climate change and support the global transition that this moment demands.

The spotlight now turns to the G20, which comprises 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions. A commitment to net-zero by 2050 is a step in the right direction, but it is simply not enough on its own. Without steep emission reductions by 2030, the window for mid-century carbon neutrality will shut. With 84 days until COP26, this is a pivotal time for the world’s leading economies to deliver 1.5C-aligned enhanced NDCs and scale up climate finance support to vulnerable countries struggling to cope with the negative impacts of climate change.  

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Contact: hac@highambitioncoalition.org; +447894219638