The 10 New Insights in Climate Science

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in Glasgow, United Kingdom is a crucial opportunity to achieve pivotal, transformational change in global climate policy and action. It is a credibility test for global efforts to address climate change and it is where Parties must make considerable progress to reach consensus on issues they have been discussing for several years. COP 26 comes against the background of widespread, rapid and intensifying climate change impacts, which are already impacting every region on Earth. Also, COP 26 comes against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the urgent need to build back better for present future generations to ensure a safe future.

The UNFCCC secretariat (UN Climate Change) is the United Nations entity tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change. UNFCCC stands for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Convention has near universal membership (197 Parties) and is the parent treaty of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The main aim of the Paris Agreement is to keep the global average temperature rise this century as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The UNFCCC is also the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The ultimate objective of all three agreements under the UNFCCC is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system, in a time frame which allows ecosystems to adapt naturally and enables sustainable development.

Overview by Professor Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Co-Chair, Advisory Committee of Future Earth, and Co-Chair of the Earth League.

The 10 New Insights in Climate Science:

1. Stabilizing at 1.5°C warming is still possible, but immediate and drastic global action is required
2. Rapid growth in methane and nitrous oxide emissions put us on track for 2.7°C warming
3. Megafires – climate change forces fire extremes to reach new dimensions with extreme impacts
4. Climate tipping elements incur high-impact risks
5. Global climate action must be just
6. Supporting household behaviour changes is a crucial but often overlooked opportunity for climate action
7. Political challenges impede the effectiveness of carbon pricing
8. Nature-based solutions are critical for the pathway to Paris – but look at the fine print
9. Building resilience of marine ecosystems is achievable by climate-adapted conservation and management, and global stewardship
10. Costs of climate change mitigation can be justified by the multiple immediate benefits to the health of humans and natur