Key messages from the latest IPCC report

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released their latest global climate assessment (AR6) earlier this week, and the report is depressing to say the least. But there is still time to act.

Image courtesy the IPCC.

Here are just a few of the key messages from the report. I will be blogging about different sections of this sobering 1,300-page report over the coming months.

1. Human influence on the warming of the planet is unequivocal or leaving no doubt.

2. Each of the last four decades has been warmer than any decade that preceded it since 1850.

3. It is virtually certain that the global upper ocean has warmed since the 1970s and extremely likely that human influence is the main driver.

4. It is virtually certain that hot extremes have become more frequent and intense across most land areas since the 1950s, while cold extremes have become less frequent and severe. There is high confidence that human-induced climate change is the main driver of these changes.

5. Human influence is very likely the main driver in global sea-level rise since at least 1971. The average global sea-level rise between 1901 and 1971 was 1.3 mm/year, between 1971 and 2006, it was 1.9 mm/year and from 2006-2018 that figure has further increased to 3.7 mm/year.

6. Global average precipitation over land has likely increased since 1950 and has accelerated since the 1980s. It is likely that human influence has contributed to the pattern of observed precipitation changes since the middle of the 20th century.

7. Human-induced climate change is likely the main driver in the observed increase of the frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation events over most land areas since the 1950s.

8. Human-induced climate change is likely responsible for the increased global proportion of major tropical cyclones (Category 3 or higher) over the last four decades.

Image courtesy the IPCC.