On Thursday 9 September, climate scientist Valérie Masson-Delmotte presented to MEPs the main findings of the first part of the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published on 9 August. During her speech, she called on them to listen to the scientists.
“I note that there are still discourses of denial with respect to human influence and with respect to the state of knowledge, but if you ignore the problem, it will hit you more if you are not prepared and do not use scientific information”, warned Ms Masson-Delmotte, co-chair of the IPCC.
Ms Masson-Delmotte repeatedly highlighted one of the main conclusions of the report, namely the now clear link between human activity and global warming.
“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans and lands”, she said in her presentation. She went on to say: “The perturbation caused by human activity is unprecedented compared to natural variations”.
Responding to the presentation of the report, the majority of MEPs welcomed the work of the IPCC.
For Nils Torvalds (Renew Europe, Sweden), this report demonstrates the importance of convincing other major economies to do more for the climate at the 26th UN Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP26) in early November in Glasgow.
Michael Bloss (Greens/EFA, Germany), on the other hand, said the report was also “a slap in the face for the climate policy of the EU”, which currently will not limit warming to +2°C.
Mick Wallace (The Left, Ireland) noted the IPCC’s conclusions on methane emissions, according to which strong, rapid and sustained action to reduce methane, CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions will be needed to limit warming.
On methane, Ms Masson-Delmotte said: “If we look at the concentration of methane in the atmosphere, it is increasing fast and even faster over the last 6 years. (…) For the recent growth in the last decade, we conclude that at the global scale it is largely driven by fossil fuel emissions and agriculture dominated by the livestock sector”.
The second part of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, due in February 2022, will address the impacts of climate change, the vulnerability of human societies and ecosystems to climate change, and possible adaptations to cope with the consequences of climate change.
The third part on solutions to mitigate climate change and its effects - a draft of which was recently leaked to the press (see EUROPE 12780/4) - is expected in March 2022. This will be followed by a synthesis report of the three parts, due by the end of September 2022. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)