The U.N. ’s Climate Report Exposes How Badly Wrong Leaders Like Trump Have Got Climate Change

Climate change is a global challenge demanding global solutions. No one country can face it alone, no matter that nation’s political, economic or military might. From the richest to the poorest, we all share one planet, and we all have a stake in its survival. This is why the latest report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes for such alarming reading and demands immediate, concerted action from everyone — particularly our leaders. The report sets out starkly that, without a rapid change of course, global temperatures will rise above the 1.5°C level that scientists view as the bare minimum to avert catastrophic climate change, including rising sea waters, desertification and droughts. This change will not happen, however, unless leaders in politics and business put their money where their mouth is and finally deliver the billions of dollars needed to make the transition to a green economy. Nearly a decade ago, leaders of developed countries committed at the 2009 Copenhagen climate conference to mobilizing $100 billion per year of public and private finance by 2020 for climate action in developing countries. The pledge was reiterated in Paris, but funds committed to date are nowhere near the target; according to global NGO Oxfam, climate finance in 2015-16 amounted to $48 billion per year, but only $9 billion went to least-developed countries. According to NASA, global temperatures are already 0.9 degrees Celsiu...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized climate change paris agreement Source Type: news