Are There Hard Limits to Adapting to Climate Change?

5min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Damien O'Neill says climate change is about opportunities as well as risks. We're allready at one point, one degrees celsius above pre industrial levels. But there's no point at which suddenly things are going to become a hundred times worse or a thousand times worse. This decade, a 20 30, is going to be decisive for the world and we have less than eight years now to act.

A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has given humanity a stark warning: without immediate and rapid action on climate breakdown, a liveable and sustainable future for all is at risk. The assessment, which is based on 34,000 studies, documents the ‘widespread and pervasive’ impacts on people and the natural world, and analyses how humanity can adapt. It also offers a small piece of good news – a liveable future remains within grasp. But the window of opportunity for action is ‘brief and rapidly closing’. Ian Sample speaks to environment editor Damian Carrington about the IPCC’s findings and how fast humanity needs to act. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod