AWorking group two of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented their new progress report on Monday. How do experts assess the report, which is entitled “IPCC WG2: Consequences, Adaptation and Vulnerability” and presents the current state of research on the consequences of global warming on almost 3700 pages? The summary for policymakers paints a “gloomy picture,” says Marco Springmann, Research Fellow at Oxford University. “Climate change is very likely to adversely affect our planet and societies, and without concerted action will lead to widespread disruption.” 127 key risks, including increased heat-related deaths, increased damage from flooding and reduced habitability of certain Regions are identified in the publication. The conclusion of Gerhard Reese, Professor of Environmental Psychology at the University of Koblenz-Landau: “I can’t read anything in the report that in any way sparks optimism in the sense of ‘it’s going to be more moderate than I thought’. In fact, the report makes it clear once once more that unless we limit global warming, we will face dire risks at many levels of human life.”
“The Scientific Innovation” of the report says Reimund Black, Head of the Working Group on Climate Change and Extreme Events at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, lies “in the depth of dealing with the effects on ecosystems, biodiversity and their effects on humanity on a variety of pathways such as nutrition, health and a growing social fear of crisis.” Reese emphasizes how the current global warming is also having a mental impact: “Especially with regard to ‘psychosocial’ effects, it is specifically shown that the climate crisis will have a strong negative impact on mental health – worldwide and especially in particular vulnerable groups such as children, young people, but also the elderly and those with previous illnesses. So-called climate anxiety can already be found among many young people worldwide and a main goal must be that this completely rational psychological reaction is converted into a motivation to act.”
Emphasizes that the physical consequences of the crisis in the 21st century are also a key reason for flight Kathleen Hermans, head of the Global Environmental Change and Migration working group at the UFZ: There is now a broad scientific consensus that sea-level rise and extreme weather and climate conditions will force more people to leave their homes in the “medium to long term”. “Compared to the previous IPCC report, which is now more than seven years old, our knowledge of the impact of extreme weather and climate on displacement and migration has improved. Against the background of advancing climate change, there is therefore no doubt regarding an increase in climate-related displacements.” “Lower crop yields in tropical regions, exacerbated by heat-related lower labor productivity in the rural population, lead to higher food prices and health risks from malnutrition,” says Hermann Lotze-Campen, Head of the Climate Resilience Research Department at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), an example. Also new are statements on the effects of so-called Overshoot-Paths: “Even if the temperature increase should only temporarily exceed the mark of 1.5 degrees and then drop once more,” says Matthew Garschagen, Professor of Anthropogeography at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (LMU), “this would result in serious and sometimes irreversible damage to ecosystems and societies. Glaciers, for example, would be lost and additional species would be threatened with extinction.”
