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| A major challenge in communicating complex messages about climate change is that the more simplified media reports of these events often have more influence than the science itself. (Photo by= Mario Tama) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] A key finding in the latest IPCC climate report has been widely misinterpreted, according to scientists involved in the study. In the document, researchers wrote that greenhouse gases are projected to peak "at the latest before 2025". This implies that carbon could increase for another three years and the world could still avoid dangerous warming.
But scientists say that's incorrect and that emissions need to fall immediately. The IPCC's most recent report focused on how to limit or curtail emissions of the gases that are the root cause of warming. In their summary for policymakers, the scientists said it was still possible to avoid the most dangerous levels of warming by keeping the rise in global temperatures under 1.5C this century. This will take a herculean effort, with carbon emissions needing to shrink by 43% by the end of this decade to stay under this threshold of danger.
Most media outlets including the BBC concluded that meant emissions could rise until 2025 and the world could still stay under 1.5C. It's partly because the climate models that scientists use to project temperatures work in five-year blocs, so 2025 follows 2020 for example, without reference to the years in between. Covid delayed the mitigation report by about a year but the information used came from models that projected peaking, by and large, in 2020.
