Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis
The report from Working Group I of the IPCC, covering the physical science of climate change, is the first contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, and the only part that will be published before COP26 in Glasgow. Its release is a key moment in what has become the most important year for international cooperation on climate change since at least 2015 and the negotiation of the Paris Agreement. It is an essential input to international negotiations culminating at COP26, ensuring that governments have the latest and most authoritative science to inform their commitments and actions.
The report is years in the making and draws from a new generation of highly advanced climate models and scenarios. It is the work of literally hundreds of scientists from around the world and is put through an extraordinarily rigorous process of review. The Summary for Policymakers is approved line-by-line by governments.
In the eight years since the Working Group I contribution to the IPCCs Fifth Assessment Report in 2013, global emissions have continued to rise, temperatures have skyrocketed, and the world has witnessed a terrifying run of extreme weather disasters, from Australia’s 2019-20 summer to the extraordinary heatwaves, fires and floods that have shaken the northern hemisphere this year. In that time our understanding of climate change, and in particular its link to extreme weather, has improved considerably, as has our picture of likely future changes. The need for deep and rapid cuts to emissions is even clearer than before.
Read the full report here.
