The publication of the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sparked many reactions on Monday from stakeholders who see it as a call to finally take action to tackle the world’s worst environmental crisis. of the history of mankind. Here are some of those reactions:
Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations
“Humanity is walking on a thin layer of ice and this ice is melting fast,” he commented in a video message broadcast to the IPCC press briefing, while describing the report as “a survival guide for the humanity”. If “all actors must press the fast-forward button”, he recognizes that developing countries are both less responsible for global warming, and less able to accelerate their transition. First targeted, the developed countries which “must commit to achieving carbon neutrality as close as possible to 2040, a limit that they should all intend to reach”, he insists. With this in mind, he expects all G20 countries to present new “ambitious” and “inclusive of all gases” greenhouse gas reduction commitments by the end of COP28 in December in Dubai. with “absolute reduction” targets for these emissions for 2035 and 2040.
Hoesung Lee, Chairman of the IPCC
“This summary report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that if we act now, we can still ensure a livable future for all,” he said. “We have the know-how, the technology, the tools, the financial resources and everything we need to overcome the climate problems that we have identified”, but “what is missing at the moment is a will strong policy in order to solve them once and for all”, judges the Korean economist. However, without immediate action, “we will suffer more in the future”.
Inger Andersen, Director of the United Nations Environment Program
“The report has a clear conclusion for nations, businesses, investors and all those contributing to climate change: we must move from procrastination to action. Global warming is hitting the most vulnerable communities with the least responsibility, as we have just seen with the cyclone freddie in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar. »
Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change
“We need to raise our ambition. In 2023, it should no longer be necessary to repeat that climate issues affect us all when we see that they are increasing health costs and the cost of property damage. We are now called upon to work on adapting to climate change and mitigating its effects,” he said Monday, recalling that “Canada is warming twice as fast as the global average, with even faster warming in the North”.
Friederike Otto, co-author of the IPCC summary report
“The hottest years we have experienced so far will be among the coolest within a generation”, summarizes for AFP Friederike Otto, co-author of the synthesis, which represents this reality by a graphic colored in red more or less dark. “Some things are easier to sell to governments when they’re in infographics” rather than explicitly in text, she explains.
Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist
“The fact that those in power are still living in denial, and actively moving in the wrong direction, will ultimately be viewed and remembered as an unprecedented betrayal,” she said in a written statement to AFP. ” It’s just a matter of time. According to the ecologist, “it is becoming more and more impossible to ignore the climate crisis”. “So many people are living the direct consequences, the science is now unequivocal and so many have been sounding the alarm for decades.”
Patrick Bonin, Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner
For the environmental organization, this new report should serve as a warning to governments, like that of Canada, which continue to authorize new projects for the exploitation and export of oil and natural gas. “The time has come for them to start holding companies accountable and making them pay for the loss and damage they cause. There are many solutions to act against the climate crisis and the time has come to deploy it bluntly. This report is a real action plan for humanity and one of the last exit doors available to us to build a fairer and safer world”, argues its head of the climate and energy campaign, Patrick Bonin.
Caroline Brouillette, Acting Executive Director of Climate Action Network Canada
“It is time to tackle, once and for all, the fossil fuel industry’s stranglehold on policy that has blocked climate action for decades. Over the next few months, the Canadian government must show how it will align its actions with science, do its fair share, and implement rapid, equitable and transformational change. »
With Agence France-Presse