https://www.realsolutions-not-netzero.org/ipcc-wg-iii
*To Avoid Overshoot the IPCC Must Prioritize the Need to Rapidly Phase Out Fossil Fuels* *Download the Letter in: *English <https://www.realsolutions-not-netzero.org/s/IPCC-Must-Prioritize-Phase-Out-Fossil-Fuels_Orgs_0327222.pdf> As governments convene to review the latest findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) regarding mitigation, the stakes could not be any higher, the science any clearer, or the imperative for immediate action any greater. The IPCC’s recent report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability leaves no doubt: Climate change is a human rights and environmental and social justice crisis, eroding health, wellbeing, the environment, and equity across the entire globe, in grossly unequal ways. Current levels of warming are already causing permanent loss and damage, especially for the populations most vulnerable to, and least responsible for, the climate crisis. Surpassing 1.5°C of warming—even temporarily—will unleash further irreparable harm taking the planet into a point of no return. States have a responsibility to translate this scientific consensus into the concrete actions necessary to avert climate catastrophe. The urgency of the climate crisis demands a rapid reorientation of our societies and economies away from fossil fuels, the key driver of global warming. There is no time or justification for policy scenarios that fail to center an immediate halt to oil, gas, and coal expansion and the managed phaseout of all fossil fuels. Planning for overshoot on the premise that geoengineering techno-fixes and carbon trading can reverse temperature rise or mitigate its effects is indefensible. As the politically endorsed overview of the IPCC’s key findings, the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) influences how the consensus science is understood and in turn, how it is acted upon by policymakers, investors, and the public. As you consider the Working Group III (WGIII) contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), the undersigned organizations and impacted communities urge you to ensure that the SPM: 1) Foregrounds assessments of pathways to rapidly phase out fossil fuels at source, beginning immediately. As IPCC reports have repeatedly affirmed, fossil fuels are the primary cause of climate change. The recent WGII report underscores the dire consequences of current levels of warming and the looming threat of triggering tipping points and catastrophic feedback loops if warming surpasses 1.5°C, even temporarily. Therefore, the principal focus of the IPCC’s report on mitigating climate change should be on ending the extraction and use of fossil fuels, recognizing that wealthy nations should begin that phase-out immediately and pursue it fastest, to avoid temperature overshoot. 2) Acknowledges clearly that reliance on large-sale carbon dioxide removal technologies threatens to result in irreversible harm by pushing the planet beyond 1.5°C warming, from which a return might not be possible. The IPCC must recognize that these technologies pose precisely the sorts of risks to social justice, human rights and Indigenous Peoples rights that the IPCC WGII emphasizes need to be incorporated in, not sacrificed through, responses to the climate crisis; 3) Recognizes that the world no longer has time for misplaced reliance on market-based emissions trading systems and offset mechanisms, disguised as net-zero targets, that neither reduce emissions nor advance the urgent action needed to end reliance on fossil fuels, halt agro-industrial deforestation and biodiversity loss, and accelerate a just transition to a fossil-free future. The IPCC has clearly stated the urgency of staying within a rapidly dwindling carbon budget. Doing so requires that efforts to respect and restore natural systems, consistent with Indigenous Peoples’ cosmovision, traditional knowledge, and human and land rights, must be separate from and pursued in addition to emissions reductions policies to phase out fossil fuels, not traded off against them; 4) Heeds the warnings of WGII on the novel and possibly catastrophic risks that the deployment of Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) would pose for people and ecosystems, as well as for international cooperation and peace. Delegations must ensure that SRM is excluded from discussions of climate change mitigation measures and not treated as a legitimate response to the climate crisis. This is the decisive decade for climate action. The public understanding of the science elaborated by the IPCC will be a critical pillar of that action. You have a responsibility to ensure that the summary of the science on mitigation measures clearly conveys to the global community the urgency of the crisis and the central role of fossil fuels in driving it; the need for a rapid phaseout of oil, gas, and coal to avoid overshooting 1.5°C and unleashing further irreversible harm; and the danger of relying on large-scale carbon dioxide removal technologies, carbon trading and offsets, or solar radiation modification, which do not reduce emissions or keep fossil fuels in the ground, and pose significant risks to people and nature. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/CAKSzgpY2Cm%2B%3DCQB9tu948L%2BuV6%3D6Axn0Z5SGE3iHr07DiJ9CkQ%40mail.gmail.com.
