Climate crisis | “Tough” discussions delay IPCC report

Difficult Debates The approval of the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been delayed by 48 hours, with its release postponed to mid-Monday.

Jean-Thomas Liveill
Press

In two weeks, about 270 authors and representatives from 195 member states will have to complete line-by-line approving the content of the nearly 3,000-page report “Summary for Decision-makers” on mitigation solutions. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere.

Discussions are sometimes “hot” on what is said. Press A source who attended, but did not have the authority to speak publicly about it, said Geneva time extended training until Sunday evening.

The release of the document, originally scheduled for Monday morning as a result of IPCC’s Task Force III, was postponed to 5:00 pm Geneva time (11:00 am Montreal time), the report was initially accepted. An absolute referendum.

The “significant” amount of information in the report made the controversy inevitable Press The second source who participated in the discussions, but who did not have the authority to speak publicly about them.

Conflicts have arisen over financing activities, the location of fossil fuels, carbon capture and sorting and “mitigation as needed”, i.e. changes in consumption behavior.

Oil, gas and meat

Different countries tried to give the text an unfavorable tone to their national interests, explain the sources Press.

Saudi Arabia, for example, has insisted that the text be allowed to exploit fossil fuels, according to a British newspaper. Defender.

Leading beef producers Brazil and Argentina preferred that the report did not mention the need to follow a “vegetable diet” but rather a “balanced diet”. Press.

In order not to take responsibility at this stage, the United States is interested in the question of funding.

Did the changes dilute the report? Probably its summary, but one source estimates that the exact hour is enough to go through the “episodes”. PressThis reminds us that the authors of the report retain the final opinion of its content.

He also points out that many countries, including Canada, have worked to ensure that the summary for policymakers is as close as possible to scientific conclusions.

“Most interventions were effective,” the other source said PressIt signifies India’s insistence on the legitimacy of the measures to be taken, among other things.

“Strong and sometimes tense discussions between national representatives and teachers have a greater advantage than a statement written by scientists alone, in their ivory tower: a common sense of entitlement,” said one of the authors of the report. Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, a professor at Louvain-la-Neuve Catholic University in Belgium, wrote on social networking site Twitter on Sunday evening.

Promising statement

Many of the authors of the report expressed their happiness and hope that it was recognized on social media.

“The IPCC report has just been approved! ! The 16-day, 40-hour series of negotiations and approvals concluded, ”said Stephanie Rowe, a senior climate scientist at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Years of work.

“This report refreshes the sense of urgency, but it also offers (and evaluates) many avenues for a solution in the context of sustainable development,” said Professor Van Yepercel, who spoke at the longest approval session in 34 years of organizational history.

Despite last-minute frustrations and the resulting delays, sources in the debate said the new IPCC report was promising.

“He’s going to say: ‘In eight years, it is possible to halve emissions”, pointing to one of them, adding that there are solutions that are economically accessible and” missing is the political will. These solutions must be accepted. ”