UN climate experts are set to deliver stark warnings about how quickly the planet is warming when they publish a landmark report on Monday.
The verdict from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is its first comprehensive update on climate science since 2013.
Scientists will forecast how much more carbon can be pumped into the atmosphere before global climate targets are breached.
That will serve as a guide for countries who are under pressure to agree bold emissions cuts at November’s Cop26 summit in Britain.
Under the Paris Agreement, countries must strive to limit global warming to no more than 2°C or preferably 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
But climate change is already fuelling disastrous weather across the globe, with many linking it to last month’s deadly flooding in Western Europe.
Monday’s report will “underscore the urgency for governments to ramp up climate action,” said Kelly Levin, a climate expert at the Bezos Earth Fund.
It is going to be stronger than what we had in the past
Corinne Le Quere
“The report will cover not only the fact that we are smashing record after record in terms of climate change impacts, but show that the world today is in uncharted territory in terms of sea level rise and ice cover,” she told Reuters.
The so-called carbon budget — the amount of greenhouse gas that can be released before the Paris targets slip out of reach — is a key part of the report.
As host of Cop26, Britain is pushing countries and businesses to adopt plans to cut their net emissions to zero by 2050.
Scientists have been meeting virtually with policymakers since July 26 to finalise the report. Early drafts received more than 80,000 comments from reviewers and governments representatives.
The 2013 report said it was extremely likely that human industry was causing climate change. This year’s report is expected to use even stronger language.
“Obviously it is going to be stronger than what we had in the past because of the growing warming of the planet,” said Corinne Le Quere, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia.
“That’s going to be one of the main points. It will be discussed very, very carefully, and scrutinised.”
The report will include five hypothetical scenarios for the next century that depend on how far the world succeeds in curbing emissions.
It is expected to discuss the question of attributing extreme weather events to climate change, a politically sensitive issue.
Disasters such as the 2017 hurricane flooding in Texas and the 2019-20 wildfires were directly linked to climate change by scientists.
Many developing countries are particularly vulnerable to climate-induced disasters and want the rich world to accelerate efforts to protect them.
Monday’s report is actually just one part of what will go into the final Sixth Assessment Report, which will be released in 2022.
This will include further chapters on the impacts of climate change on societies and ways of curbing emissions and reining in climate change.
A draft of one of the future reports seen by AFP says that achieving the Paris targets is the only way to protect coastal settlements, cultural heritage sites and ocean ecosystems in the Mediterranean.
The region faces "highly interconnected climate risks" including heatwaves, drought and fires supercharged by rising temperatures, according to the draft report.
Pieces of Her
Stars: Toni Collette, Bella Heathcote, David Wenham, Omari Hardwick
Director: Minkie Spiro
Rating:2/5
The five pillars of Islam
House-hunting
Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Westminster, London
- Camden, London
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Islington, London
- Kensington and Chelsea, London
- Highlands, Scotland
- Argyll and Bute, Scotland
- Fife, Scotland
- Tower Hamlets, London
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More about Middle East geopolitics
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Levante v Real Mallorca (12am)
Leganes v Barcelona (4pm)
Real Betis v Valencia (7pm)
Granada v Atletico Madrid (9.30pm)
Sunday
Real Madrid v Real Sociedad (12am)
Espanyol v Getafe (3pm)
Osasuna v Athletic Bilbao (5pm)
Eibar v Alaves (7pm)
Villarreal v Celta Vigo (9.30pm)
Monday
Real Valladolid v Sevilla (12am)
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: nine-speed
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh848,000
On sale: now
RESULTS
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: AF Senad, Nathan Crosse (jockey), Kareem Ramadan (trainer)
2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Ashjaan, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel.
3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Amirah, Conner Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Jap Al Yaasoob, Szczepan Mazur, Irfan Ellahi.
4pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Cup Prestige Handicap (PA) Dh 100,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Jawaal, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri.
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Manhunter, Ryan Curatolo, Mujeeb Rahman.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
