2024-04-15 21:49:58
He pointed out that “climate change is not something we can think about in the distant future – we are seeing it now”. Among them, extreme weather conditions, heat waves and forest fires were observed already last year.
The results of the IPCC’s latest report on climate change include several goals, one of which is the long-term temperature goal of keeping warming below two degrees.
“The conclusions here are strong and sad – we are far from the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” Skee said.
He pointed out that the current government’s promises could result in up to three degrees of warming. On the other hand, the only way to achieve warming up to 1.5 degrees is by working in the energy sector. Efforts to obtain zero emission energy are needed, as well as becoming more energy efficient and using more electricity. It is also necessary to reduce deforestation and promote more sustainable agricultural systems.
At the same time, Skee said that “it is clear that we cannot talk about climate change without talking about investment.”
Current funding for climate change mitigation is three to six times less than what is needed to reduce warming by 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius.
Skee concluded that significant progress has been seen in the past five to 10 years. Among them, there are 20 countries in the world that have reduced their GHG emissions for a long time, including many of them in Europe.
Andris Vīksna, head of the Forecast and Climate Department of the Latvian Center for Environment, Geology and Meteorology (LVĜMC), said at a press briefing that the IPCC report and the research and data sets created and compiled in it are a fundamental basis for all climate analysis both worldwide and in each country at the national level. Among them, Latvia is no exception and has been using the results of IPCC studies for a long time.
Vīksna pointed out that LVĜMC is trying to localize the results of the study and thus predict how it will be reflected in Latvia.
Together with the Ministry of Climate and Energy, LVĜMC has come up with three scenarios that describe small, medium and significant climate changes in Latvia. Until the end of this century, the average air temperature in Latvia will continue to rise in all three scenarios.
Comparing the data from 1961 to 1990 with the data from 1991 to 2020, a temperature increase of 1.2 degrees can be observed. In the future, however, in all three scenarios, the temperature will rise from 2.8 to 4.5 degrees Celsius.
Vīksna pointed out that such an increase, when talking about the climate, is large and the changes are significant.
It was also concluded that temperature changes will affect all seasons. The average winter air temperature will be above zero degrees by the end of the century in case of significant climate change. If the current average temperature is in the range of -2 to -4 degrees Celsius, it is expected that the average temperature may reach 1.2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
At the same time, the average air temperature will rise in the summer and will be 20.7 degrees Celsius, “which is a lot for the average temperature,” Viksna said. Also, tropical nights, very hot summer days, and heat waves will be observed more and more often.
The number of frost days will also decrease, but the amount of precipitation will increase. If the previous increase in precipitation was 5%, then by the end of the century the increase will be 12-16%.
On the other hand, Director of KEM’s Strategic Coordination Department, Ilze Pruse, said at the press briefing that several studies have been carried out by KEM, including assessment of changes in the sea coast line and solutions for mitigating sea coast erosion, adaptation of building construction to the reality of climate change, as well as integration of climate policy in local and regional areas. in development planning. Also, a study on improving the insurance industry to reduce damages caused by climate change was carried out.
It has already been reported that more than 100 IPCC experts from 65 countries have gathered in Riga this week to start work on the development of the IPCC’s first special report on climate change and cities.
The IPCC is an organization that studies climate change. The organization regularly publishes conclusions on climate change, and the climate policies of the European Union and Latvia are also based on the conclusions of the IPCC.
2024-04-15 21:49:58