IPCC Synthesis Report Briefing

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - the UN body responsible for climate science - is releasing the final part of its 6th Assessment Report (AR6) on 20 March 2023. 

There have already been six publications as part of AR6. This briefing summarises their key findings, and suggests campaign messages to use alongside.

The science is clear: the climate crisis is all around us, devastating lives and livelihoods now - especially for the most affected people and areas

The IPCC says there is an “unequivocal” scientific consensus that the climate is changing as a result of human activity. (A.1). The last decade was the warmest decade for 125,000 years (A.2.2).

Climate change is making extreme heat, heavy rain, drought and fires more intense and frequent. Rising temperatures are causing mass loss of ice sheets, glaciers and snow cover, driving sea-level rise, ocean acidification and intense tropical cyclones (A.2, A.1). Heat extremes are causing mass animal and plant deaths, and widespread deterioration of ecosystems (B.1.2)..

Some human societies and parts of the natural world are already facing irreversible risks, beyond the limits that they can adapt to (B.1). A storm, drought or flood is 15 times more likely to kill people in the most vulnerable regions (B.2.3). Climate change has hit food production and availability, particularly for the world’s poorest, exposing millions to acute food insecurity (B.1.3). Droughts and floods compound humanitarian crises, driving people from their homes and worsening violent conflicts (B.1.7).

Translations of the IPCC synthesis report briefing

Translations available in over 25 languages including Arabic, Chinese, Italian, French, Russian, Hindi and Spanish

While fossil companies are making record profits, the destruction of ecosystems keeps accelerating. Frontline communities have been paying for their greed since the onset of colonialism.

Emissions were higher between 2010-2019 than in any previous decade (B.1) and continue to rise (B.2).

Between 2019-2020, investment in fossil fuels was greater than that for climate adaptation and mitigation (B.5.4):

In the power sector, fossil fuel-related investment was, on average, USD 120 billion a year. An average of USD 650 billion was invested in the oil supply and USD 100 billion in coal supply (15.3.3).

In comparison, actual global public finance for adaptation was USD 46 billion (15.1.1).

The richest 10% of households contribute about 36%-45% of global GHG emissions (p.17). But increased heavy rain, tropical cyclones and drought will force more people from their homes, particularly in places that are more vulnerable and have less ability to adapt. (B.4.7).

We are on track for 2.8°C of warming. The effects of the climate crisis are already hell for many people, especially in the Global South. We cannot wait a moment longer - #TomorrowIsTooLate.

National commitments made by governments prior to COP26 are inconsistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C (B.6), and are likely to lead to global warming of 2.8°C by 2100 (C.1.1).

Sea-level rise will lead to the loss of coastal ecosystems, groundwater salinisation, flooding and damages to coastal infrastructure, with risks to people’s livelihoods, health, well-being, food availability, water supplies and culture (B.5.2). 

If temperature rise passes 1.5°C, entire ecosystems will be irreversibly lost - even if temperatures are later reduced with measures to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Some ecosystems are already at the limits of adaptation, including some warm water coral reefs, coastal wetlands, rainforests, and polar and mountain ecosystems (C.3.3).

Global economic damages from climate change will increase with further temperature rise, with poorer countries hit hardest, and costs could be higher than previously estimated (B.4.6). Increased heat and drought will combine to harm food production and reduce agricultural labour productivity, in turn increasing food prices and reducing farmers’ incomes, triggering more malnutrition and death, particularly in tropical regions (B.5.1).

There will be significant increases in ill-health, premature death and the spread of disease as a result of more extreme weather and heatwaves (B.4.4).

Food production and food security will be threatened by even a small amount of additional warming, with increasingly severe and frequent heatwaves, droughts and floods, along with sea-level rise (B.4.3). With warming above 1.5°C, people living in Small Island states and regions dependent on glaciers and snow melt may have insufficient freshwater (C.3.4).

We demand an end to the financing of all fossil fuel projects now! Every dollar invested in fossil projects increases the ecological debt that the global north owes to the most affected people and areas.

Existing and planned fossil fuel infrastructure (without additional carbon capture and storage) will make limiting warming to 1.5°C impossible (B.7).

There are mitigation options available in all sectors that could, together, halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (C.12.1). 

  • Growing numbers of countries have benefited with the rise of cheap renewables that has propelled an uptake of electric vehicles, heat pumps and other smart, emissions-free applications (source). 

  • From 2010–2019, there were sustained decreases in the unit costs of solar energy (85%), wind energy (55%) and lithium-ion batteries (85%), and large increases in their deployment - for example, more than ten times in the case of solar and more than 100 times for electric vehicles (B.4.1).

  • Large scale battery storage on electricity grids is increasingly viable (p.615)

  • Electrification of public transport has been demonstrated as a feasible, scalable and affordable option to decarbonise mass transportation (D.1.3)

A combination of widespread electrification of all energy demand and a shift to renewable electricity systems that emit no CO2 will create co-benefits such as better health and cleaner air (E.2.2).

We demand the unconditional cancellation of the Global South’s financial debt and to contribute to reparations for loss and damage to the most affected people and areas.

Adaptation is currently insufficient to reduce risks from climate change. (C.1.2).

Adaptation cannot prevent all losses and damages that result from climate change. (C.3.5). The more slowly emissions are cut, the more losses and damages will increase, and people, societies and nature will increasingly reach the limits of adaptation. 

As global warming worsens, loss and damage is strongly concentrated among the poorest vulnerable populations (C.3.5). The shortage of international finance for adaptation is preventing countries across the world from adapting to climate change (C.3.2).