Summary of Working Group Report: Young People have “apocalyptic fear”

As the impacts of climate change become increasingly apparent and widespread, the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its Working Group II (WGII), in particular, is crucial to help the world truly understand what is at stake in order to take appropriate action to address this global problem. The task of WGII is to assess the impacts of climate change on human and natural systems at both the global and regional levels, and to consider their vulnerabilities, capacities, and limits to adapt and reduce climate-associated risks.

Delegates at the 12th session of IPCC WGII (WGII-12) were keenly aware of the need to strike a balance in how the Working Group communicates the science—ensuring that the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) conveys the seriousness and urgency of the situation without signaling that the situation is hopeless. As noted by Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), climate change is impacting mental health, especially of young people who are experiencing “apocalyptic fear.” He stressed that “fear” should be targeted towards decision-makers, not young people. On the other hand, Inger Andersen, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), noted the WGII report warns about the dire consequences of inaction, addresses the climate anxiety many are feeling, and highlights that taking action can deal with the anxiety.

Delegates and authors worked together during the two weeks of the session to finalize the SPM, which presents the key findings of “Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability,” which is the WGII contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). Some of these findings include: 

• human-induced climate change has caused widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people;
• approximately 3.3 – 3.6 billion people live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change;
• current unsustainable development patterns are increasing exposure of ecosystems and people to climate hazards;
• many natural systems are near the hard limits of their natural adaptation capacity and additional systems will reach limits with increasing global warming; 
• feasible and effective adaptation options are available and can reduce risks to people and nature;
• enabling conditions, such as political commitment and follow-through, institutional frameworks, adequate financial resources, and monitoring and evaluation, are key for adaptation; 
• maladaptive responses to climate change can create lock-ins of vulnerability, exposure, and risks that are difficult and expensive to change and that exacerbate existing inequalities; and
• climate resilient development (CRD) action at the global level is more urgent than previously assessed in the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5).

Read more here (with analysis).