Here are the big takeaways from the @IPCC_CH Synthesis Report released March 20, 2023 — @KHayhoe #ActOnClimate #KeepItInTheGround

Climate damage is worsening faster than expected, but there’s still reason for optimism – 4 essential reads on the #IPCC report — The Conversation #ActOnClimate #KeepItInTheGround

Wildfires are becoming a greater risk in many countries as the landscape dries. Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Stacy Morford, The Conversation

Reading the latest international climate report can feel overwhelming. It describes how rising temperatures caused by increasing greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are having rapid, widespread effects on the weather, climate and ecosystems in every region of the planet, and it says the risks are escalating faster than scientists expected.

Global temperatures are now 1.1 degree Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than at the start of the industrial era. Heat waves, storms, fires and floods are harming humans and ecosystems. Hundreds of species have disappeared from regions as temperatures rise, and climate change is causing irreversible changes to sea ice, oceans and glaciers. In some areas, it’s becoming harder to adapt to the changes.

Still, there are reasons for optimism – falling renewable energy costs are starting to transform the power sector, for example, and the use of electric vehicles is expanding. But change aren’t happening fast enough, and the window for a smooth transition is closing fast, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warns. To keep global warming below 1.5 C (2.7 F), it says global greenhouse gas emissions will have to drop 60% by 2035 compared with 2019 levels.

That’s 12 years from now.

Heat map shows how temperatures have changed and what they look like under different scenarios going foward.
The extent to which current and future generations will experience a hotter world depends on choices made now and in the coming years. The scenarios show expected differences in temperature depending on how high emissions are going forward. IPCC sixth assessment report

In the new report, released March 20, 2023, the IPCC summarizes the findings from a series of assessments written over the past eight years. In them, hundreds of scientists reviewed the latest evidence and research.

Here are four essential reads by co-authors of some of those reports, each providing a different snapshot of the changes underway and discussing solutions.

1. More intense storms and flooding

A line of rescue workers in bright vests and hard hats walks in waist-deep water on a flooded street, pulling a raft. Water is up to the mailbox they're passing.
A volunteer fire company assists with evacuation efforts following a flash flood in Helmetta, New Jersey, in August 2021. Tom Brenner / AFP via Getty Images

Many of the most shocking natural disasters of the past few years have involved intense rainfall and flooding.

In Europe, a storm in 2021 set off landslides and sent rivers rushing through villages that had stood for centuries. In 2022, about a third of Pakistan was underwater, and several U.S. communities were hit with extreme flash flooding.

The IPCC warns in the sixth assessment report that the water cycle will continue to intensify as the planet warms. That includes extreme monsoon rainfall, but also increasing drought, greater melting of mountain glaciers, decreasing snow cover and earlier snowmelt, wrote UMass-Lowell climate scientist Mathew Barlow, a co-author of the assessment report examining physical changes.

World maps show precipitation increasing in higher latitudes, but not everywhere.
Annual average precipitation is projected to increase in many areas as the planet warms, particularly in the higher latitudes. IPCC sixth assessment report

“An intensifying water cycle means that both wet and dry extremes and the general variability of the water cycle will increase, although not uniformly around the globe,” Barlow wrote.

“Understanding this and other changes in the water cycle is important for more than preparing for disasters. Water is an essential resource for all ecosystems and human societies.”

2. The longer the delay, the higher the cost

A pedicab driver looks over at an SUV making waves as both drive through knee-high water.
Extreme rainfall filled streets in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in July 2020. Flooding has become common in many South Asia cities. Munir Uz zaman / AFP via Getty Images

The IPCC stressed in its reports that human activities are unequivocally warming the planet and causing rapid changes in the atmosphere, oceans and icy regions of the world.

“Countries can either plan their transformations, or they can face the destructive, often chaotic transformations that will be imposed by the changing climate,” wrote Edward Carr, a Clark University scholar and co-author of the IPCC report focused on adaptation.

The longer countries wait to respond, the greater the damage and cost to contain it. One estimate from Columbia University put the cost of adaptation needed just for urban areas at between US$64 billion and $80 billion a year – and the cost of doing nothing at 10 times that level by mid-century.

“The IPCC assessment offers a stark choice,” Carr wrote. “Does humanity accept this disastrous status quo and the uncertain, unpleasant future it is leading toward, or does it grab the reins and choose a better future?”

3. Transportation is a good place to start

3 EV's parked in a garage and charging.
Electric vehicle sales have been accelerating, and new tax incentives and state zero-emissions requirements are expected to boost sales even more. Michael Fousert/Unsplash, CC BY

One crucial sector for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is transportation.

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by mid-century, a target considered necessary to keep global warming below 1.5 C, will require “a major, rapid rethinking of how people get around globally,” wrote Alan Jenn, a transportation scholar at the University of California Davis and co-author on the IPCC report dealing with mitigation.

There are positive signs. Battery costs for electric vehicles have fallen, making them increasingly affordable. In the U.S., the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act offers tax incentives that lower the costs for EV buyers and encourage companies to ramp up production. And several states are considering following California’s requirement that all new cars and light trucks be zero-emissions by 2035.

Charts showing falling costs and rising adoption
Costs have fallen for key forms of renewable energy and EV batteries, and adoption of these technologies is rising. IPCC sixth assessment report

“Behavioral and other systemic changes will also be needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions dramatically from this sector,” Jenn wrote.

For example, many countries saw their transportation emissions drop during COVID-19 as more people were allowed to work from home. Bike sharing in urban areas, public transit-friendly cities and avoiding urban sprawl can help cut emissions even further. Aviation and shipping are more challenging to decarbonize, but efforts are underway.

He adds, however, that it’s important to remember that the effectiveness of electrifying transportation ultimately depends on cleaning up the electricity grid.

4. Reasons for optimism

A man installs solar panels on a roof.
Solar panels have become increasingly common on homes, businesses and parking lots as prices have fallen. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

The IPCC reports discuss several other important steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including shifting energy from fossil fuels to renewable sources, making buildings more energy efficient and improving food production, as well as ways to adapt to changes that can no longer be avoided.

There are reasons for optimism, wrote Robert Lempert and Elisabeth Gilmore, co-authors on the IPCC’s report focused on mitigation.

“For example, renewable energy is now generally less expensive than fossil fuels, so a shift to clean energy can often save money,” they wrote. Electric vehicle costs are falling. Communities and infrastructure can be redesigned to better manage natural hazards such as wildfires and storms. Corporate climate risk disclosures can help investors better recognize the hazards and push those companies to build resilience and reduce their climate impact.

“The problem is that these solutions aren’t being deployed fast enough,” Lempert and Gilmore wrote. “In addition to pushback from industries, people’s fear of change has helped maintain the status quo.” Meeting the challenge, they said, starts with embracing innovation and change.

Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.

Stacy Morford, Environment + Climate Editor, The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Air quality, transportation and water: How #Denver’s next mayor and City Council can protect the environment — The Denver Post

Sunrise Denver skyline from Sloan’s Lake September 2, 2022.

Click the link to read the article on The Denver Post website (Conrad Swanson). Here’s an excerpt:

“We’ve known the answers for decades, it’s just a matter of political will for implementing them,” Jill Locantore, executive director of Denver Streets Partnership, said.

Perhaps the biggest piece of Denver’s air-quality problem would be solved by expanding the city’s public transit options, Jill Locantore, executive director of Denver Streets Partnership, said. Each piece overlaps with the others, Locantore, whose nonprofit works to reduce the city’s dependence on cars, said.

“The key is land use and transportation. Reduce vehicle miles traveled. Reduce land consumption. Reduce water consumption,” Locantore said. “We’ve known the answers for decades, it’s just a matter of political will for implementing them.”

[…]

Denver’s mayor could buy additional, dedicated service from RTD, like Boulder does, Danny Katz, executive director of the nonprofit Colorado Public Interest Research Group. Building new train lines would be expensive, time-consuming and would consume land that’s already occupied or needed for other things, Katz said. Better to increase service on existing train lines to start…

As for cars that can’t be eliminated from the city’s streets, like the thousands of vehicles that Denver owns, Katz said the next mayor could work to phase out gas-powered vehicles in favor of electric ones. Not only would that shift reduce emissions from thousands of vehicles but it also means the city would likely have to install charging stations around Denver, which could be used by residents also switching to electric vehicles…

Increasing the city’s density would mean more people live within walking distance of public transit and other amenities, Locantore said. The City Council holds sway over zoning and building codes and it could change the codes to encourage higher-density, multi-use projects and turn away others that don’t meet the criteria. The City Council is already working to cut emissions from Denver’s large commercial and multi-family buildings. New building codes approved in January will phase out gas furnaces and water heaters in new construction…The last step of that process, outgoing City Councilman Jolon Clark said, would likely be replacing gas furnaces and water heaters in existing buildings, particularly homes…

Other things the next mayor and City Council members could do to cut emissions, Katz added, would be to continue offering rebates for residents looking to buy electric bicycles. They could also work to limit or phase out the use of gas-powered leaf blowers and lawnmowers…

Lawns are likely another target to save water in the drying West. As the Colorado River provides less and less water, experts look to lawns as one of the best conservation tactics in urban areas.