,
4 tweets,
1 min read
Read on Twitter
As with the first Democratic debate last time around, a highly factual debate so far. (I don't check opinion and prediction.) The leading candidates have been almost entirely accurate.
One thing that Buttigieg and O'Rourke tonight, and others before, have gotten a bit wrong - the "12 years to climate disaster" claim. The report used a "12 years" timeline only to align with countries that had set goals for 2030. "12 years" isn't some scientific tipping point.
The IPCC scientists emphasize that climate action needs to happen immediately. But the co-chair of its emissions reduction working group told me they were just trying to be helpful, not alarmist, with the "12 years" thing, but the media and politicians got confused by it.
I talked to both the IPCC itself and a senior IPCC emissions person. They say that isn't what the report says. They only picked 2030 to study because countries had set Paris Accord goals for 2030. There's no scientific significance to 2030, they told me.
