Climate change: an unmet need

(This article was originally published by the Sustainability Magazine of the UK start-up Wild Aura in June 2021)

During the last weeks, we have analyzed the depth and importance of certain environmental problems whose impacts have reached such magnitude that the UN felt obliged to generate Goals in the 2030 Agenda for their erradication.

That is why, today, as well as the next two weeks, we will finish the topic with what is not an analysis so much of the problems (as in the last article with the Fast Fashion Example), but the consequent direct result and that in reality it represents the environmental problem of our time: climate change and the extinction of flora and fauna, both terrestrial and marine.

On this occasion, we will tackle the first one, SDG 13: "Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts."

Concern about climate change is an issue that has been present in the discourse of most renowned environmentalists since the last century, and it is that it is a problem on a larger scale that affects each of the biotic species of this planet. 

Global warming is likely to be the greatest cause of species extinctions this century. The IPCC says a 1.5°C average rise may put 20-30% of species at risk of extinction. If the planet warms by more than 2°C, most ecosystems will struggle. Many of the world’s threatened species live in areas that will be severely affected by climate change. And climate change is happening too quickly for many species to adapt.

Climate change is having serious impacts on the world’s water systems through more flooding and droughts. Warmer air can hold a higher water content, which makes rainfall patterns more extreme.

Rivers and lakes supply drinking water for people and animals and are a vital resource for farming and industry. Freshwater environments around the world are already under excessive pressure from drainage, dredging, damming, pollution, extraction, silting and invasive species. Climate change only exacerbates the problem and makes this worse.

Oceans are already experiencing large-scale changes at a warming of 1°C, with critical thresholds expected to be reached at 1.5°C and above. Increased water temperatures and higher carbon dioxide concentrations than normal, which make oceans more acidic, are already having an impact on oceans as they are vital ‘carbon sinks’, meaning that they absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide, preventing it from reaching the upper atmosphere. (Topic that we will delve more deeply into SDG 15).

Climate change is amplified in the polar regions. The earth’s north and south extremities are crucial for regulating our planet’s climate and are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of global warming, which has global consequences.

Climate change in the Arctic.

Average air temperatures in the region have increased by about 5°C over the last 100 years. Recent data shows that there’ll be almost no summer sea ice cover left in the Arctic in the next few decades. The effects won't just be felt by the habitats and species such that rely upon this area - they'll be dramatic in the entire northern hemisphere.

Climate change in Antarctica.

The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest single mass of ice on earth, accounting for around 90% of all fresh water on the earth's surface and spanning almost 14 million km. This ice plays a vitally important role in influencing the world’s climate, reflecting back the sun’s energy and helping to regulate global temperatures. Parts of the west Antarctic Peninsula are among the fastest-warming places on earth. Even small-scale melting is likely to have significant effects on global sea level rise.

In turn, the manufacturing and construction problems mentioned above contribute directly to the increase in Greenhouse Gases as it is with deforestation. 

When large areas of forest are destroyed it’s disastrous for the local species and communities that rely on them.

Dying trees emit their stores of carbon dioxide, adding to atmospheric greenhouse gases and setting us on a course for runaway global warming.

Forests are vitally important as they soak up carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming, and help regulate the world’s climate.

They’re also home to countless plant and animal species.

Impacts vary in different kinds of forests. Sub-Arctic boreal forests are likely to be particularly badly affected, with tree lines gradually retreating north as temperatures rise. In tropical forests such as the Amazon, where there’s abundant biodiversity, even modest levels of climate change can cause high levels of extinction.

(Data from WWF UK).

Then, if we are talking about a problem of a ladder as massive as this, what actions have been taken?

The answer is practically the same as with the majority of SDGs: institutional measures have been implemented even before 2015, but their application has not been very efficient.

Adopted in 1997, but entered into force in 2005, the Kyoto Protocol is committed as one of the first actions by industrialized countries to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions. In short, the Kyoto Protocol operationalizes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by committing industrialized countries and economies in transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in accordance with agreed individual targets.

The Convention itself only asks those countries to adopt policies and measures on mitigation and to report periodically. (As explained in the UNFCCC site).

Then, in 2011, at Cancun, México, the Cancun Agreements were a set of significant decisions by the international community to address the long-term challenge of climate change collectively and comprehensively over time, and to take concrete action immediately to speed up the global response to it. 

They form the pillars of the largest collective effort the world has ever seen to reduce emissions, in a mutually accountable way, with national plans captured formally at international level under the banner of the UNFCCC.And also included the most comprehensive package ever agreed by governments to help developing nations deal with climate change.

And finally, in 2015 the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes climate change as one of the greatest challenges of the present time and expresses its concerns on how the adverse impacts of climate change can undermine the ability of all countries to achieve sustainable development.

The Agenda point out that increases in global temperature, sea level rise, ocean acidification and other climate change impacts are seriously affecting coastal areas and low-lying coastal countries, including many least developed countries and small island developing States.

The survival of many societies, and of the biological support systems of the planet, is at risk.

The Agenda also identifies UNFCCC as the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change and reaffirms the determination of Member States to address the threat posed by climate change and environmental degradation. Among the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goal 13 focuses on taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. (SDG 13)

Which led together to the end of 2015, when a global-scale agreement was adopted in Paris, France, aiming to keep global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius and boost efforts to limit temperature rise even further to 1, 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as part of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21 / CMP1), known as the Paris Agreement.

The Agreement ensures the understanding of the urgent and potentially irreversible threat that climate change represents, therefore, calling on international societies to demand action and participation to accelerate the reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

Despite setbacks from COVID-19, preliminary data show global greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2020. The past six years, 2015–2020, are likely to be the six warmest on record. Climate change puts the achievement of many SDGs at risk. In order to limit warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels as called for in the Paris Agreement, global efforts would need to reach net zero CO2 emissions globally around 2050.

But… has any of this been helpful?

The concise answer is yes, although not on the desired scale.

As of April 2020, 118 countries and territories have reported the development and adoption of national and/or local disaster risk reduction strategies, increasing from 48 countries and territories during the Sendai Framework’s nascent period in 2015.

Is that all?

Kind of…

Although carbon emissions continue to increase daily, the implementation of these treaties has not led so much to concrete results corresponding to their objectives, but to an implicit scale of environmental education.

That is to say, that although the desired impact has not been achieved, if a common visibility has been achieved that would not have been possible in its absence, so little by little, both the administrations of part governments, as investors and individuals, are assuming part of the responsibility to be able to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in its majority, as well as contributing to the support of organizations such as WFF UK to be able to address these problems.

And the last question: How can I help?

Reducing your carbon footprint.

A good way to start is with a carbon footprint calculator. Which will let you to analyze aspects such as the energy sources you use and your dependence on them, your modes of transport (directly linked to smog emissions), your diet and whether you consume products from companies that are not very committed to the environmental agenda, as well as your habits of purchase, among others.

Finally, it is the sum of small efforts that can actually generate the structural change that we so badly need.