Reasons for hope: what the IPCC report can tell us about climate solutions

It has been a couple of months since the IPCC Working Group 3 report came out, but we can’t let the short memory of the news cycle let us forget the incredibly important learning that the report had to offer.

Many summaries have focused on the urgency of the report, and its dire predictions for the future of our living world – but there are more than a few reasons for hope hidden within its pages, too.

A large-scale transition to renewables is within reach

Renewable energy has a big part to play in climate mitigation, and the good news is that the technologies involved are improving rapidly in performance, capacity, efficiency, and cost – especially wind power, solar power, and storage. The increasing deployment and steeply decreasing costs of these technologies have actually happened much faster than experts and previous mitigation scenarios have predicted, and this trend shows no signs of reaching a limit. 

In many regions and sectors, shifting to low-carbon energy actually saves money compared to continuing to use fossil fuels. Electricity from onshore wind, for example, is now cheaper than from fossil fuels in a growing number of markets. From 2010 to 2019, the unit costs of solar energy have fallen by around 85% and wind energy by about 55%. Large-scale battery storage on electricity grids is also becoming increasingly viable. The report also suggests that cheaper renewables means more uptake around the world, which in turn can make renewables cheaper and more efficient. 

All of this indicates that a large-scale transition to renewables is perfectly within our reach, and as a bonus would create better air quality and health for many people.

Electric vehicles are becoming more affordable

Although they are still expensive, electric vehicles like buses and cars have huge potential for transitioning to low-carbon transport and will actually save money in the long term relative to their combustion-engine counterparts. 

The report’s “avoid, shift, improve” mitigation strategy illustrates just how effective the transition to electric vehicles could be: we could avoid emissions by removing unnecessary work travel, conducting international meetings online and working from home where possible; the remaining journeys could then be shifted from cars to buses; and the buses could be improved by replacing them with electric models. This would free up a lot of space for rewilding efforts, and with effective recycling systems for recycling the lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles (which there is high potential for), creates a sustainable closed-loop system.

When charged with low-carbon electricity, as well as being better for the environment and improving air quality, transitioning to EVs would help to support the grid. EVs are also rapidly improving in performance and the costs are coming down, making them increasingly accessible.

Climate activism and policies are making a difference

Awareness about climate change is continually on the rise, which is giving way to more and more climate activism and grassroots movements, and is building political pressure for accelerating climate change mitigation. Environmental activism –  including protests, strikes, and litigation that challenges the state, private sectors, financial institutions, and government approval of high-emitting projects – has had a significant impact on the creation and enforcement of environmental targets, policies, and laws.

Climate policies are spreading globally, and there is evidence that these policies are having a demonstrable impact. In fact, since the IPCC’s assessment report (AR5) in 2014, several billion tonnes worth of CO2 each year have been avoided thanks to climate policies, which means they are clearly working, and they’re expanding.

These climate policies work even better when they are enshrined in law. Climate laws currently in place have been reducing global emissions by billions of tonnes of CO2 each year. As of 2020, climate laws targeting greenhouse gases have been put in place across 56 nations, covering just over half of global emissions, and recent estimates show that 135 countries and 88% of emissions are now covered by net-zero targets.

Also highlighted in the report is the specific impact of environmental activism which tackles colonial, social, and environmental injustices and supports indigenous communities. This has been shown to strengthen climate leadership around the world and to spread invaluable Indigenous knowledge about sustainable governance systems. It’s clear that we have a lot to learn from indigenous peoples and traditional communities, who contribute significantly to the fight against climate change, protecting many of the world’s natural spaces and consistently lowering levels of deforestation in areas where they are present. 

Covid-19 has sparked a wave of change and innovation

One thing that the lockdowns during Covid-19 have been good for is demonstrating just how possible it is to change our behaviour patterns rapidly and at a massive scale.  

The pandemic has also accelerated the emergence of renewable power and has revitalised local active transport with trends like urban cycling, as well as creating a massive precedent for electronic communications replacing unnecessary work and personal journeys, with technological innovations making conducting international meetings online and working from home much easier. If sustained long-term, this could help us to build effective and lasting social norms of much less resource-intensive lifestyles. 

In addition to all of that, it’s been shown that global crises like Covid can prompt rapid reform, prompt new behaviours, and accelerate waves of innovation – which sounds like exactly what we need right now.

Mitigation options already exist and are ready to use

One point that keeps coming back again and again in the report is that we have a wide range of options available to us right now, across all sectors, that we can implement at a large scale. 

For example, in agriculture, forestry, and other land use, most mitigation options are already available and ready to deploy, such as well-developed methods for protecting and restoring forests and other ecosystems, better soil carbon management, improved livestock rearing, shifting to plant-based diets, and reducing food waste. 

The truth is that we already know how to make a lot of improvements, it’s just a case of implementing them. 

Most mitigation options directly benefit us as well as the environment

Many things that are great for climate mitigation and adaptation are also great for us. As just one example, in cities, there are mitigation options such as urban forests, urban greening, green roofs, electrification, and storm-water management that would make a significant difference in helping cities to adapt to climate change as well as contributing to mitigation, but which also have clear benefits for physical and mental health. These include things like providing access to natural spaces for wellbeing, reducing heat stress, improving air quality, and enhancing mobility.

These changes can also enhance social equity and environmental justice by reducing energy and health bills, creating new employment opportunities, and preventing flooding in flood-prone areas where poorer communities are often forced to live. 

Conclusion

The IPCC report gives us many reasons for hope. Awareness is spreading, more and more sectors are interacting in order to address the interdisciplinary cross-sector nature of climate change, environmental justice is highlighted as a key part of climate action, technologies are getting better and cheaper, and we have many highly effective and well-researched options available to us that can be deployed in the near term and at a large scale – meaning that we can and should act now. 

Limiting warming to 1.5℃ may be a challenge, but the report makes it clear that it’s possible, and that there is definitely still reason for hope.