Watching the IPCC Press Conference last night, launching Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, I was disappointed to hear that the reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions and improvement in Air Quality due to COVID-19 is only temporary. IPCC press conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z149vLKn9d8
We need to tackle Carbon Dioxide and Methane in the atmosphere otherwise the frequency of extreme weather events will increase and we will have to retreat to safer ground to live and our sources of food are also under threat.
As the earth's tree canopy shrinks and the oceans warm up these two carbon sinks reduce their capacity to absorb CO2.
The IPCC has also lauched an interactive version of the report which visualises the effects of global warming. https://interactive-atlas.ipcc.ch/
Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis
Climate change widespread, rapid, and intensifying – IPCC: "in the coming decades climate changes will increase in all regions. For 1.5°C of global warming, there will be increasing heat waves, longer warm seasons and shorter cold seasons. At 2°C of global warming, heat extremes would more often reach critical tolerance thresholds for agriculture and health"...IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (Aug 2021) https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report is the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/
World Emissions per person
In 2017 oil producer Qatar's emissions were 49 tonnes (t) per person, followed by Trinidad and Tobago (30t); Kuwait (25t); United Arab Emirates (25t); Brunei (24t); Bahrain (23t) and Saudi Arabia (19t). Australia has an average per capita footprint of 17 tonnes, followed by the US at 16.2 tonnes, and Canada at 15.6 tonnes. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions
Australia's Emission
In Australia, over the year to December 2020 the 4.9 per cent decrease in emissions from the electricity sector was mainly due to a 4.4 per cent reduction in coal generation, a 19.4 per cent reduction in gas generation and a corresponding 13.5 per cent increase in supply from renewable sources in the NEM. Transport emissions decreased 12.1 per cent over the year to December reflecting an 11.5 per cent decrease in petrol consumption and a 50.9 per cent decrease in domestic jet fuel consumption related to the COVID restrictions on movement. Greenhouse Gas Inventory to Dec 2020: https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-05/nggi-quarterly-update-december-2020.pdf
