However, the most important sector for limiting global warming is energy supply. The report confirms that fundamental change is urgently needed here. A phase-out of fossil fuel use, widespread electrification, better energy efficiency and the development of alternative fuels such as hydrogen are cited as key elements.
It doesn’t work without negative emissions
New technologies such as the removal of carbon (carbon dioxide removal, CDR) from the atmosphere must also be further developed, explains the working group. Without such »negative emissions«, the Paris climate goals are completely out of reach. Around half a dozen different approaches are in various stages of development. However, almost all of them are still a thing of the future – not least in many cases it is still unclear how exactly such technologies will be integrated into the market for carbon credits.
With such approaches, however, it is to be feared that successfully implemented negative emissions will make the crucial component of climate protection appear less important. Oliver Geden, lead author of the chapter on cross-sectoral perspectives on climate protection, warns of this. Such techniques should not be used as an excuse not to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “We need CDR to get to net zero, but CDR is not the essential factor on this journey – the essential thing is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.”
As in the two previous parts of the report, in addition to technological aspects, the experts are also focusing much more on social processes and the responsibility of the financial system than before. The criticism is that far too little capital is being made available worldwide to finance investments towards climate-neutral companies. Financial flows are currently three to six times below the level needed by 2030 to limit warming to below two degrees. Significantly more has to be invested to achieve the 1.5 degree target.
The IPCC experts had already made it clear in the first two parts of the sixth assessment report on climate change how crucial it is to limit the rise in temperature as much as possible. Climate models and analyzes of the economic and social consequences of ongoing warming show that even if the extraordinarily optimistic 1.5 degree target is reached, the impact on people and nature will be drastic.
Serious consequences are inevitable
According to the report by Working Group I on the scientific background to climate change, published in August 2021, serious changes in the weather are already unavoidable today. More extreme weather conditions ensure that periods of heat, catastrophic flooding and droughts occur more frequently and severely. Even now it is no longer possible to prevent the sea level from rising further over centuries or even millennia due to the melting of the Arctic ice sheets.