In fighting climate change, major IPCC report finds every little bit matters

A sobering new report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells corporations and governments in no uncertain terms: Act with urgency to lower emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change at a more rapid pace and bigger scale.

In this episode of ESG Insider, we look at the implications of the IPCC report for investors and companies, and we talk to two scientists who helped write the nearly 4,000-page document to better understand its key findings.

Claudia Tebaldi, a scientist with the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and one of the report’s authors, says incremental changes can make a big difference — for better or for worse.

“Every little bit matters,” says Claudia. "This is in the bad sense that every little bit of warming is making the situation worse, but also that every little thing that we can make to slow down and stop [global warming] is going to matter.”

We also talk to Kirsten Spalding, senior director for the investor network at Ceres, on how the lPCC’s latest findings will shape future investor engagement with companies on climate change.

The report shows that “the need for action is even on a shorter timeline than we knew before,” Kirsten says.

Photo credit: Getty Images