IPCC Global Warming Report Co-Authored by UA Professor

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, has released the Summary for Policymakers of the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Diana Liverman, a University of Arizona Regents’ Professor in the School of Geography and Development in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, is one of the authors of the overall report and of the Summary for Policymakers.

The IPCC press release states: “Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society. With clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems, limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C compared to 2 degrees C could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society.”

The report was invited by governments when they adopted the Paris Agreement in December 2015 to combat climate change. Nations agreed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in order to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 C.

“The report shows that the current Paris commitments to reduce emissions are inadequate," Liverman said. "They asked us to compare 1.5 C and 2 C of warming, but the current Paris commitments could take us to more than 3 C of global warming by 2100. Because land warms more than oceans, this could result in average temperatures more than 4 C (7 F) warmer than at present in Arizona.”

The IPCC report, known as SR15, examines the latest science on climate change and its impacts and assesses the chances of keeping temperatures under 1.5 C global warming, compared to 2 C. It also looks at how efforts to limit warming interact with sustainable development. The report will be the main scientific input to the Climate Change Conference (COP24) this December in Katowice, Poland.

The overall report has five chapters and 91 authors and review editors from 40 countries. Liverman is one of five U.S. authors of the Summary for Policymakers. She was a lead author for the full report’s fifth chapter on sustainable development, poverty eradication and reducing inequalities, which was coordinated by UA Arid Lands alumna Petra Tschakert. Liverman also contributed to cross-chapter boxes on food security, solar radiation management and sustainable development.

To continue reading: https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/ipcc-global-warming-report-coauthored-ua-professor