All countries-especially the wealthy countries that generate the most emissions- must create more ambitious climate action plans to eliminate emissions and pull more carbon from their atmosphere-and they need to follow through on them.Related reading: Protecting nature through authentic partnerships. To help Indigenous groups keep playing this crucial role, governments must formally recognize their land and resource rights, and funding for climate action should include support for their communities.In fact, Indigenous-managed lands support about 80 percent of the world’s remaining biodiversity and 17 percent of the planet’s forest carbon. These communities are some of the most important protectors of the world’s living carbon, as lands owned or managed by IPLCs often have much lower deforestation rates than government protected areas.When it comes to working with nature to fight climate change, we cannot achieve effective action without the leadership of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs).Here’s a few things that communities, governments, and business can do. It will require movement-building and on-the-ground action, as well as new national policies and economic transformations. In addition to phasing out fossil fuels, we also need to protect the natural habitats around the world that store billions of tons of this “living carbon.” We can also help by changing the way we manage working lands like farms and timber forests so they retain more carbon, and restore natural habitats on lands that have been cleared or degraded.Ī global challenge like climate change requires global solutions. Plants naturally absorb carbon from the air and store it in their roots and in the soil. Fortunately, nature created a powerful technology that does just that: photosynthesis. We need bolder global climate commitments, and we need them fast so we can transition to clean energy and reach “net zero” emissions as soon possible. And as the IPCC's reports shows, we’ll not only need to cut out emissions-we’ll have to remove some of the carbon that’s already in the atmosphere. That means every action we take to limit further warming makes a big difference, especially for vulnerable communities around the world. Every fraction of a degree of warming makes a big difference in how powerful the effects of climate change will be, including the frequency and intensity of heatwaves, storms, floods and droughts. Climate change is here today, reshaping our world in ways big and small-but that doesn’t mean our future is predetermined. Want to go deeper on the findings? TNC Chief Scientist Katharine Hayhoe breaks them down in this Twitter thread. And if the planet gets much warmer, we may see irreversible changes to some ecosystems around the world, which would be catastrophic for the people and wildlife that depend on them. Even if every country in the world delivers on its current climate pledges, that’s probably not enough to keep global warming to 1.5☌ above pre-industrial levels-a threshold scientists believe is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.Ĭurrent adaptation efforts, too, are scattered and leave behind some of the most vulnerable communities.

And we’re seeing more funding committed for all of this work. Countries are making more ambitious national commitments to reduce their emissions and doing more to help communities adapt to the effects of climate change.

There have been promising developments in low-carbon technologies. There is some good news in this synthesis report. What should I know about the latest IPCC report?

4th climate change report findings