In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared its findings on the latest physical understanding of the climate system and climate change. It stated, in no uncertain terms, that humans have had a negative effect on the climate, and that there has been irreparable damage done to our world. It also set out the ways in which we can mitigate this damage, offering a view to a possible future.
Senior members of the Energy Institute have been reacting to the report. Prof. Lenny Koh, Director of the Advanced Resource Efficiency Centre (AREC) and Head of Communication, Partnership and Internationalisation at the University of Sheffield Energy Institute, said:
“There is no doubt that climate change is happening here and now, and the science has spoken - even more vividly now through the IPCC 2021 AR6.
“Several key themes have strongly emerged from the IPCC 2021 AR6. First: humans. It has been reported that it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. The report also concluded that human influence has warmed the climate at an unprecedented rate in at least the last 2000 years. Such a bold conclusion marks the fact that observed warming is driven by emissions from human activities, with greenhouse gas warming partly masked by aerosol cooling. If we continue with our ‘business as usual’, the planet will be rapidly deprived by shortages of resources, leading to questionable survival of species in the future. This is clearly not sustainable, and humans must take actions now to reverse such a potential catastrophe.
“Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe, with extreme weather such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones affecting every inhabited region across the globe.
“Without urgent actions now, such systemic extreme weather events will accelerate and spread regionally and globally. Adaptation and mitigation are essential, along with infrastructure planning, risk and resilience assessment, and critical resource management to ensure a sustainable response. However, this must be balanced against addressing the root causes of climate change, where net zero economic, social and environmental policies can play a transformational role globally.
“Whilst the world is progressing towards various commitments to achieving net zero, carbon and climate neutralities in 2050-2060, and investing in clean energy technologies, climate resilience and sustainable solutions, it is likely that the future can still be greener for our planet, and that the ‘code red for humanity’ can be reversed. In order to achieve this, human interventions, consistent policies, resource utilisation, technology availability, infrastructure building, culture change and green financial investment stimulation are required, and must be considered as a system of supply chains to address climate change, avoiding blame shifting and ensuring full accountability.
“Limiting human-induced global warming to a specific level requires limiting cumulative CO2 emissions, reaching at least net zero CO2 emissions, along with strong reductions in other greenhouse gas emissions such as methane. Strong, rapid and sustained reductions in CH4 emissions would also limit the warming effect resulting from declining aerosol pollution and would improve air quality. Overall, the IPCC 2021 AR6 report painted an unequivocal and unprecedented picture of the future of our planet due to climate change. With COP26 hosted by UK in 2021, in collaboration with world leaders globally, it is imperative that global agreement and partnership are enforced to push towards net zero, carbon and climate neutralities to address climate change and build a greener future.”
Prof. David Stone, Professor in Electrical Engineering and Head of Capacity Building at the University of Sheffield Energy Institute, also commented on the report, saying:
“The recent release of the IPCC report on climate change highlights the very real threat to the planet caused by human actions. The report draws clear conclusions as to ways in which future climate change may be limited, predominantly through moves towards scenarios of very low greenhouse gas emissions.
“One clear way to lowering CO2 emissions from both the power and transport sectors is through the accelerating use of renewable generation. The use of renewables can not only support static energy use (domestic/commercial and industrial), but also the decarbonisation of transport through the supply of energy to the increasing numbers of electric vehicles we need to address the emissions problem. However, the move to alternative generation technologies (wind, solar, tidal etc) brings with it a need to ensure the grid remains stable through the use of energy storage. Properly deployed, energy storage technologies act as a reservoir of energy, supplying energy to homes and industry when there is insufficient generation, and storing excess in times of generation surplus over what is required.
“The Energy Institute at the University of Sheffield specialises in targeted research addressing the key questions around all aspects of our low carbon future, from wind generation, through energy storage, to other aspects of our green futures such as carbon capture and clean nuclear technologies. We are working closely with the world-leading industries on both the fundamental research and its application, to forge a better, cleaner and more nature friendly future.”
