Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will require “unprecedented changes” at social and global levels, warns the new report presented on Sunday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) informs the “Agência Brasil”.
The text says that limiting “global warming to 1.5 ° C”, a barrier that must be overcome between 2030 and 2052 at this rate, “would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society,” since the consumption of energy to urban and terrestrial planning and many cuts in the emission of polluting gases.
The report, presented in the South Korean city of Incheon, looks at ways to limit warming by as much as 1.5, instead of 2 degrees, as set out in the Paris Climate Agreement, and warns that the effects on ecosystems and life on the planet will be much less catastrophic if it is possible to leave this more ambitious barrier.
Emissions of pollutants of human origin have already raised the average temperature around 1 degree before the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, and have transformed life on the planet, recalled the chairman of the IPCC, Hoesung Lee, in the presentation of the report. “Keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees, instead of 2, will be very difficult, but it’s not impossible,” Lee added.
Keeping warming below the 1.5-degree limit would prevent further extinction of species and, for example, total destruction of corals, which are basic to the marine ecosystem. It would also reduce sea level rise by 10 centimeters by 2100, saving coastal and coastal areas, according to the report.
Exceeding the 1.5-degree limit would result in greater increases in extreme heat, heavy rains and the likelihood of droughts, which will have a direct effect on food production, especially in sensitive regions such as the Mediterranean and Latin America.
It will also affect health, water supply and economic growth, with negative impact, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable populations, says the text, which has 6,000 scientific references and was signed by 91 experts from 40 countries.
To avoid overcoming this barrier, the report says that more efficient energy consumption, more sustainable and less extensive agriculture, and more land for the cultivation of energy resources are needed.
It will also be necessary to multiply by five the current investment in the technological sector to be able to make transport, buildings and industries emit much less pollutants. The report will be used as the basis for discussions at the 24th Climate Summit (COP24), to be held in Katowice, Poland, in December.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.