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Professor Jim Skeer, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will deliver the annual undergraduate lecture on the new climate era.
Newly elected IPCC Chair Professor Jim Skier set the stage for Sustainability Week at Imperial College London with a talk on the urgent need for scientific leadership in tackling climate change.
Professor Skeer is Professor Emeritus and Professor of Sustainable Energy at the Center for Environmental Policy.
Throughout his career, Professor Skeer has shaped energy and climate change policy. His expertise has been recognized through a range of honours, including the Order of the British Empire and the Order of the British Empire for services to sustainable energy and transport respectively.
Drawing on the latest insights from the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, Professor Skeer outlines the scale of the risks posed by climate change and the ability of governments and other stakeholders to deliver meaningful change. We discussed how climate action intersects with broader societal goals.
Lessons from the 6th cycle
A major advance in the last IPCC report was the strength of its message that human activity is the cause of climate change. Professor Jim Skeer IPCC Chair, Professor Emeritus, Environmental Policy Center
Professor Skeer discussed the findings of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, which outlines society’s future emissions pathways and resulting climate scenarios.
Currently, we are in the range of low warming scenarios that limit warming to 1.5.°C, a high scenario with a possibility of up to 4 cases in this century°Global warming will progress by 2100.
Despite progress towards reducing emissions, high and very high emissions scenarios are still considered possible, although now less likely.
The report also showed that significant risks have already occurred, including irreversible risks. “[We see that for] “We are already beginning to see the effects of current levels of warming, including damage from wildfires, permafrost degradation and, in particular, biodiversity loss,” Professor Skeer said.
However, the Sixth Assessment Report also marked important progress in addressing the reality of anthropogenic climate change.
“The big step forward in the last IPCC report was that it sent a stronger message that human activity is causing climate change,” Professor Skeer said, when explaining the level of evidence for anthropogenic climate change. It was noted that the word “obvious” was used. .
A growing international consensus around climate change adds to the positive trends outlined in the report, including the rapid decline of some renewable energy technologies such as onshore wind and solar panels. It can give momentum.
IPCC adaptation focus
At the moment, there are many gaps between the actions we are taking and the actions needed to get back on track… Professor Jim Skeer IPCC Chair, Professor Emeritus, Environmental Policy Center
“There are many gaps between the actions we are taking now and the actions needed to put us on track to meet our long-term temperature targets,” Professor Skeer said.
Many scientific challenges remain to quantify and predict the effectiveness of strategies in a world that overshoots 1.5.°C Global warming target.
For example, carbon storage and removal technologies need to be studied in more detail so that scientists can predict their effectiveness in reducing global warming.
However, the main focus of the Seventh Assessment Report may be different from previous cycles. “We know there is a lot of interest in mitigation in Europe, and we expect this to be a very important cycle for adaptation for the IPCC,” Professor Skeer said.
Climate adaptation is the policies and technologies that make societies more resilient to the effects of climate change, such as investing in weather warning systems and installing solar-powered irrigation.
“We are currently poorly adapted to a climate where there is awe, so it is important to have adaptation measures in parallel with mitigation measures,” he said.
The challenges to implementing adaptation measures globally may be even more severe than mitigation measures. The gap in funding for adaptation between developed and developing countries is greater than the gap in funding for mitigation. Professor Skeer analyzed that adaptation usually has “public goods characteristics”, making it difficult to attract private sector funding.
IPCC input over the next decade will help close the existing capital gap and ensure the world achieves the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement.
“Trust me, the IPCC is not easy, but it’s worth it because it has a huge impact, and I’m grateful for the opportunity,” he said.
Professor Skeer’s insights highlight the need for urgent climate action. The talk was part of Imperial’s Sustainability Week, a two-week sustainability-themed event that includes panel discussions with researchers and networking opportunities with sustainable energy employers. It was held at the same time as the start of March 1st.
The lecture was concluded by Professor Richard Craster, Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
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