Reported by the World Economic Forum.
According to the latest The Global Risks Report, climate action failure is the biggest medium to long term risk, with potentially the most severe impact over the next decade.
Photo by: WEF, The Global Risks Report 2022.
The latest nationally determined contributions to decarbonization made at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties still fall short of the 1.5°C goal set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. The current trajectory is expected to steer the world towards a 2.4°C warming, 4 with only the most optimistic of scenarios holding it to 1.8°C.
Without stronger action, global capacity to mitigate and adapt will be diminished, eventually leading to a “too little, too late” situation and ultimately a “hot house world scenario” with runaway climate change that makes the world all but uninhabitable. The world will face high costs if we collectively fail to achieve the net zero goal by 2050. And, the complete climate inaction will lead to losses projected to be between 4% and 18% of global GDP with different impacts across regions.
Tailwinds for a fast, but disorderly, transition
Clear evidence of rising physical risks, such as melting land ice, rising sea levels and prolonged periods of extreme heat and cold, as well as their associated consequences for human and economic systems, are intensifying momentum for the transition. And while COVID-19 lockdowns saw a global dip in GHG emissions, upward trajectories soon resumed: GHG emissions rates rose faster in 2020 than their average over the last decade!
Governments, businesses, investors and communities are increasingly converging on the need for a quicker transition—each group setting higher expectations of the other. Green parties and green policies— such as a carbon border adjustment tax — have gained traction in many countries, regions and industries, as have multilateral ideas like climate clubs. A plethora of climate risk disclosure frameworks and measurement standards are now being combined within a new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This will help clarify what needs to be done, and by whom, to highlight and prevent greenwashing and stalling on climate action.
Read the full report by clicking here.
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