African Climes

  This synthesis summarizes the findings of the three working groups and the previous three special reports.   It assesses the state of climate knowledge to the present. First, is that global surface temperatures have warmed by 1.09 degrees since 1850-1900 up to 2011-2020. Warming is higher over land (1.59 degrees Celsius) than over the ocean (0.88 degrees). Well mixed greenhouse gases (ghgs) have caused a rise of temperatures by 1.07 degrees from 1850-1900 to 2010-2019. The noted increase in these gases is definitely from human activities. In 2019, the ghg levels were 12% above records in 2010 and 54% higher than 1990. Developed countries have the highest per capita emissions. Human influence on the global climate has led to impacts such as floods and heavy precipitation, droughts and heatwaves, cyclones and sea level rise. In fact the seas have risen by 0.20 meters from 1901-2018. About 3.3-3.6 billion people are directly vulnerable to climate change and many areas lac...

This body of work picks up from the previous working group II report. Its focus is on mitigation. This part of the AR6 series takes place in an environment of new climate policies and agreements, changing international landscape governing climate i.e. the UN Climate Change, Paris Agreement and Kyoto Protocol. There is also a sizeable increase in the role on non-state actors and increasing links between mitigation, adaptation and sustainable development. Notably, this document takes into consideration socio-economic factors in mitigation. Emissions of greenhouse gases have risen since 2010 to 2020, and collectively greenhouse gases amounts have increased in the air since 1850. Carbon dioxide is the highest, followed by methane and fluorinated gases. In fact, all classes of ghgs (greenhouse gases) have recorded increases. The carbon budget left to hit 1.5 degrees of warming is 500GtCo2 equivalent (gigatonnes of carbon dioxide) with 50% probability, from 2020 going forward. The budget...