Latest IPCC Report Says Time to Safeguard Earth's Most Critical Systems is Running Out

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its special report assessing the impacts of climate change on our oceans and cryosphere--the portion of Earth's water that is frozen--in Monaco today. The report was written by more than 100 scientists from 36 countries, draws from nearly 7,000 peer-reviewed studies, and represents the latest scientific consensus on how climate change is altering some of Earth's most critical systems.

Below is a statement by Kristina Dahl, senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS):

"Our oceans have absorbed the vast majority of extra heat added to the planet by heat-trapping gases emitted by humans. As the latest IPCC report shows, the consequences for the health of our oceans and the safety of coastal communities are already grave and will worsen as the planet continues to heat up.

"The report details how glaciers and ice sheets around the world are rapidly shrinking in response to human-caused warming. This loss of land-based ice will further accelerate rising seas levels, which will have stark implications for communities whose cultures, livelihoods or water supplies are glacier-dependent, as well for coastal communities across the globe more broadly.

"Here in the U.S., communities are already suffering the consequences of the climate crisis in the form of increasingly frequent coastal flooding in places like the Jersey Shore and Miami and harm to shellfish fisheries from acidifying seawater in the Pacific Northwest. Mounting evidence even suggests that Arctic warming is contributing to hurricanes stalling over land and heat waves lingering for weeks around the globe.

"The report also finds these impacts are slated to become increasingly dire if global warming emissions keep rising. UCS research has found, for example, that by the century's end as many as 2.4 million residential U.S. properties--home to about 4.7 million people today--are at risk of chronic, disruptive flooding. As we're already seeing in the wake of climate impacts, it's often the people with the fewest resources to cope who stand to lose the most.

"To meet the goal of the Paris Agreement and stave off the most dangerous climate impacts on our oceans, glaciers, ice sheets and the communities dependent on them, all nations need to step up their ambition. This includes developing concrete plans to achieve net-zero global warming emissions by 2050 and ensuring wealthier nations provide greater financial and technological support for developing countries as they transition to cleaner economies. While limiting warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius--in line with the Paris Agreement--is still possible, time to create a better, safer world is quickly running out."