Abstract
We are already experiencing the effects of a 1°C global warming - and further increases in temperature are projected. It is becoming even more important to know the impacts and risks of every bit of further warming, and how to limit the global warming to 1.5°C. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “Special Report on 1.5 °C Global Warming” (SR1.5) (IPCC, 2018b) touches on these issues, through assessing the context of anthropogenic climate change, its impacts, and options to avoid negative effects as much as possible2. In October 2018, the Summary for Policymaker (SPM), which presents the key findings of the SR1.5 was approved by the member states of the IPCC. The SR1.5 underwent a somewhat different initialization process than other IPCC special reports before: the IPCC accepted an invitation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - the UNFCCC. The request was addressed to the IPCC at the historic 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) in 2015, when the Paris Agreement was adopted. One major objective of the Paris Agreement is to keep global warming to well below 2°C, and to limit it even further to 1.5°C. Subsequently, at the COP24 in December 2018 in Katowice, the ‘rulebook’ on how to implement the Paris Agreement was approved. For this COP, the SR1.5 served as knowledge and discussion input for the elaboration of the rulebook and the Talanoa Dialogue discussions. It is thus of utmost importance for the international progress of climate politics. The SR1.5 findings are relevant for a wide range of sectors and decision makers on multiple levels, not only related to climate change, but also for developing their strategic agendas. Here we highlight important aspects of the report that can support the work associated to climate services.
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