Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Released the Summary for Policymakers of Working Group II Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report

7 March 2022

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report "Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability" on 28 February 2022. According to the SPM, human-induced climate change, including more frequent and intense extreme events, has caused widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people, beyond natural climate variability.

Global warming, reaching 1.5°C in the near term, would cause unavoidable increases in multiple climate hazards and present multiple risks to ecosystems and humans. Urgent near-term actions that limit global warming to close to 1.5°C would substantially reduce projected losses and damages related to climate change in human systems and ecosystems, compared to higher warming levels.

Beyond 2040, climate change will lead to numerous risks to natural and human systems, depending on the level of global warming. Mid- and long-term impacts are assessed to be up to multiple times higher than currently observed.

Past and current development trends, such as past emissions, development and climate change, have not advanced global climate resilient development. Adaptation and mitigation must be pursued with urgency.

The SPM is available here.