ECO would like to remind delegates to the Second Periodic Review of the Climate Convention which was held 2021-2022 and finalized one year ago at COP 27 with the intention to feed into the GST negotiations. The Review identified 10 key messages such as:
- At 1.1°C warming, the world is already experiencing extreme climate change.
- Climate impacts and risks, including risk of irreversible impacts, increase with every increment of warming.
- It is still possible to achieve the long-term global goal with immediate and sustained emission reductions.
- The window of opportunity to achieve climate-resilient development is rapidly closing.
- The world is not on track to achieve the long-term global goal.
- Equity is key to achieving the long-term global goal.
ECO recognises that the rate of global warming is occurring in line with projections or even worse. Global warming is happening faster and more drastically than anticipated while the projections for future climate impacts in coming decades might be exceeding the short-, mid, and long-term projections even under low emissions scenarios.
This brings us closer to Tipping Points that might trigger a complete instability and extinction of entire ecosystems, irreversibility of weather and other patterns and resilience of human communities – even before exceeding 1.5°C. See also the new report by Lenton et al on Global Tipping Points for COP 28 where more than 200 scientists have contributed. Their main message is: Harmful tipping points in the natural world pose some of the gravest threats faced by humanity. Their triggering will severely damage our planet’s life-support systems and threaten the stability of our societies.
For ECO the GST decision should in any case reflect that limiting global warming to 1.5°C is not safe.