GENEVA: The incoming head of the U.N. climate science agency told Reuters on Thursday (July 27) the world would exceed the Paris deal warming target of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, saying states’ policies had not been ambitious enough. In an interview a day after being voted the next head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Britain’s Jim Skea said the organisation are committed to “at least a little bit of overshoot” of the long-term threshold set in the 2015 Paris deal. He said via video link from Nairobi where he won a run-off against Brazil’s Thelma Krug,
They (governments) have not put in place policies that are ambitious enough to allow the goals of the Paris agreement to be met. That is absolutely for sure. We are, I think, committed to at least some degree of overshoot.
The 35-year old U.N. body is responsible for assessing the latest climate change science through its authoritative reports. Interest in this election has been high as extreme heatwaves across China, Europe and North America have sparked fires and water shortages, bumping climate change up the political agenda.
Skea, a sustainable energy professor who has focused on mitigating climate change’s impacts, said he had been personally surprised by the heatwaves that IPCC scientists have long warned would arrive. He said,
The fact that such things are happening is in the sense not surprising. The speed with which it has come across us is and, unless we take further action to reduce emissions, we are going to see this actually getting worse.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diarrhoea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
