The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. Their role is to prepare comprehensive assessment reports about the state of scientific, technical and socio-economic knowledge on climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for reducing the rate at which climate change is taking place.
This is the third and final report in the IPCC’s latest review of climate science which draws on the work on thousands of scientists. The report warned that without immediate emissions reductions across all sectors, limiting global warming to 1.5°C is beyond reach. The next few years are said to be critical, and greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 to give the world a chance of limiting future heating to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
In response to the report, our Climate Change Working Group Chair Dr Liz Marder said:
Comprehensive scientific assessment reports from the IPCC are only published every 6 to 7 years. This latest report should therefore be seen as a stark and final warning to the world. We are at risk of walking into a future that is unliveable for the children and young people we are currently caring for if we don’t act now to phase out fossil fuels and prioritise a just transition to clean, renewable energy. It is every child’s right to grow up in a safe environment, and we have to prioritise this for future generations of children to thrive.
A recent UNICEF report showed that the impacts of the climate crisis are already putting one billion children around the world at risk, and this is only going to get worse. This is the defining health challenge of our time, and we urge global leaders to take this warning seriously and put the health of our people and our planet at the centre of their policymaking. Action is needed right now to make the planet a safe place for every child and young person.
Across the health sector we are united in calling for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health.
Our position statement on climate change, published ahead of COP26 in October 2021, called on the leaders of every country and their representatives to make human health central to all climate change mitigation and adaptation actions to protect current and future generations of children and young people.
As a College we are determined to play our part in specifically highlighting the impact of climate change on children around the globe. In January 2022 we published our action plan, which sets out our detailed commitment to tackling the climate emergency as an organisation.