Thread by @CelineGuivarch

Second day of the 56th session of @IPCC_CH on the WGIII's assessment report on mitigation. Let’s talk about WGII report today. #ClimateReport #AR6

WGII report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also reviews vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change.

Its report was published in February.

Read it, or at least its summary: ipcc.ch/report/sixth-a…

Or listen to its presentation:

Key points selected from the report headline statements:
1.Human-induced climate change, including more frequent and intense extreme events, has caused widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people.

2.In all regions of the world, the most vulnerable people and systems are observed to be disproportionately affected.

3.The magnitude and rate of climate change and associated risks depend strongly on near-term mitigation and adaptation actions.

4. Projected adverse impacts and related losses and damages escalate with every increment of global warming.

5. Progress in adaptation planning and implementation has been observed across all sectors and regions, generating multiple benefits.

6.However, adaptation progress is unevenly distributed with observed adaptation gaps.

7.There are feasible and effective adaptation options that can reduce risks to people and nature.

8.Enabling conditions are key for implementing, accelerating and sustaining adaptation in human systems and ecosystems.

9.These include political commitment and follow-through, institutional frameworks, policies and instruments with clear goals and priorities, enhanced knowledge on impacts and solutions,…

10.… mobilization of and access to adequate financial resources, monitoring and evaluation, and inclusive governance processes.

11.But, maladaptive responses to climate change can create lock-ins of vulnerability, exposure and risks that are difficult and expensive to change and exacerbate existing inequalities.

12.Maladaptation can be avoided by flexible, multi-sectoral, inclusive and long-term planning and implementation of adaptation actions with benefits to many sectors and systems.

13.Also, there are limits to adaptation.

14.Soft limits to some human adaptation have been reached, but can be overcome by addressing a range of constraints, primarily financial, governance, institutional and policy constraints.

15.Hard limits to adaptation have been reached in some ecosystems.

16.With increasing global warming, losses and damages will increase and additional human and natural systems will reach adaptation limits.

17.Climate change impacts and risks are becoming increasingly complex and more difficult to manage.

18.Societal choices and actions implemented in the next decade determine the extent to which medium- and long-term pathways will deliver higher or lower climate resilient development.

19.These prospects are constrained by past development, emissions and climate change, and enabled by inclusive governance, adequate and appropriate human and technological resources, information, capacities and finance.

20.Climate resilient development prospects are increasingly limited if current greenhouse gas emissions do not rapidly decline, especially if 1.5°C global warming is exceeded in the near term.

See also the full headline statements from the WGII report: ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2…

WGII report authors would tell you much more: follow them! Eg @laurent_bopp, @wolfgangcramer, @Goneri76, @schipper_lisa.

So, to avoid reaching the limits to adaptation, we therefore also need to contain the magnitude and speed of change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is where the Group III report comes in!

To be continued tomorrow…