Green Pulse Ep 56: IPCC rings alarm bells for humanity

18:13 mins

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

Recent extreme weather events, from heat waves and fires in North America, Greece and Turkey to deadly record floods in China have caused global alarm. Scientists say man-made climate change made all of them possible and it is just a taste of the future unless all nations take stronger action and cut greenhouse emissions.

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just released a major assessment on climate science that also looks into the future. The findings by IPCC’s Working Group 1 are alarming. Climate change is accelerating and nowhere is untouched by changing weather patterns. The world is also on course to breach a key temperature threshold of 1.5 deg C during the 2030s.

In this episode, ST environment correspondent Audrey Tan and climate change editor David Fogarty talk to one scientist who was involved in the latest report, Dr Gregory Flato. Dr Flato is from the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis at Environment and Climate Change Canada.

They discuss the following points:

Why the IPCC’s latest report card on the climate is so significant, and key takeaways from it. (2:09)
Why limiting global warming to 1.5 deg C above pre-industrial levels is so important, and what happens if this threshold is breached. (6:25)
Climate projections made in the latest report are based on emissions scenarios, which differ from previous IPCC reports. What are these differences? (11:20)
The latest report is just one part out of a series that will make up the IPCC’s sixth assessment report. Two more reports are expected next year. What will they be about? (15:14)