The world currently lacks an authoritative and up to date assessment of climate change risks, say a group of experts writing in the journal Nature.
The article’s authors – led by the Met Office’s Professor Rowan Sutton and Professor Peter Stott – call for a global assessment of avoidable climate change risks to help governments, organizations, and citizens, who may be aware of some of the risks, but not necessarily how severe they will be, how rapidly they might emerge or which risks are avoidable.
Government leaders need to know the severity and urgency of such risks to help them to make well-informed decisions and set priorities. So far, they have only a partial view, says the article.
Without accelerated global action, the consequences of climate change impacts will be increasingly severe, affecting millions of people and potentially undermining global stability. But despite the huge consequences of climate change and how wide-reaching the risks are, no internationally coordinated and mandated global risk analysis has been conducted.
Quoted in a Met Office news release concerning the article, Professor Sutton said:
“Despite clear scientific evidence and repeated warnings, the world remains unprepared for the scale and complexity of these challenges.
“Humanity still has the opportunity to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and shape a more prosperous, liveable future. A global assessment of avoidable climate change risks would enable political leaders and citizens to fully understand what is at stake and motivate us all to seize that opportunity – while we still have it.”
A series of global scientific reports – such as those produced by the IPCC – have helped to demonstrate many impacts of climate change, but these are science assessments rather than risk assessments. The absence of a global risk assessment makes it difficult for governments, businesses, and communities to understand the full scale of the threat, prioritise resources, and plan effective mitigation responses.
