The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III has released its report on climate change mitigation as well as recommended actions for policymakers and governments. The assessment is blunt – it is physically feasible to halve emissions by 2030, but the next few years are critical. This contribution to this Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) follows the release of the physical science base developed by Working Group I, the report on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability developed by Working Group 2 and several other special reports that members of the Future Earth network have taken part in.

Emissions reducing, but not on track

For the first time, we are seeing evidence of a reduction in the rate of greenhouse gas emissions. But average emissions over the past decade were the highest in human history. It’s up to governments to take drastic action immediately to limit warming of the planet to 1.5 °C. Right now, we are not on track to meet that target, with warming currently heading to 2.7° C or more, according to the report.

“We are at a crossroads. The decisions we make now can secure a liveable future. We have the tools and know-how required to limit warming,” IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee in a statement.

The full report describes the urgency with which we must move away from fossil fuels and embrace renewable technologies and energy sources. Among the report’s recommendations for achieving emissions reductions in high-consumption countries are encouraging systemic behavior changes, like replacing driving with cycling, switching to plant-based diets, and working from home. The report also underscored the continued need to improve efficiency, circular economy solutions and the need for carbon-capture technologies in keeping warming below targets as well as leveraging nature-based solutions as adaptation tools.

Cities can accelerate decarbonization efforts

Since 2019, several hundred scientists have worked on the report, synthesizing all available research. Experts from across Future Earth’s communities contributed to the report, with major contributions from the Urban Knowledge-Action Network, outlining what cities must do to pull their weight. The IPCC report found that cities and urban areas produce two-thirds of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. They take up only 2% of the world’s land area.

“When it comes to climate mitigation in our cities we need an ‘all hands on deck’ approach, recognizing the role of local governments, but also engaging other stakeholders including businesses and citizens,” says lead author and Distinguished Professor Xuemei Bai from the Australian National University Fenner School of Environment and Society, who serves as an Earth Commissioner and co-chairs the Future Earth Urban Knowledge-Action Network. “Cities are complex systems with intrinsically linked elements and processes. This means our greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets need to work with broader social, economic, environmental and human wellbeing,” says Professor Bai.

Mayors from many cities are demonstrating leadership and taking action on climate governance, according to Professor Shuaib Lwasa, Urban Action Lab, Makerere University and Urban Knowledge-Action Network Steering Committee Member who served as Coordinating Lead Author of Chapter 8 in the report.

Lwasa hopes other mayors take note of the findings and start taking action as well, highlighting that, “Cities can play a crucial role in transformation due to the opportunity of concentration of people and activity. Cities can achieve deep decarbonization through three broad strategies concurrently: Reducing urban energy consumption across all sectors, including through spatial planning to create resource-efficient and compact cities; electrification and switching to net-zero emissions resources; enhancing carbon uptake and stocks.”

“The findings are very clear and indicate the need for taking urgent actions to tackle climate change,” says Associate Professor Ayyoob Sharifi and Urban Knowledge-Action Network Advisory Group member. He continued: “The report emphasizes that without immediate and deep greenhouse gas emissions reductions across all sectors, limiting warming to 1.5°C is beyond reach. Also, abrupt acceleration of global emissions reductions is essential to achieve the 2°C target. In this regard, cities around the world need to take the lead as, cumulatively, they account for over two-thirds of global emissions.”

Şiir Kılkış, Associate Professor and Senior Researcher, and lead author of Chapter 8 of the report, echoed those comments, saying, “time continues to be of the essence with so much mobilization still to take place to address an implementation gap.” Kılkış, also an Urban Knowledge-Action Committee Network Steering Committee Member, added, “without limiting global warming to 1.5°C, it will not be possible to achieve sustainable development.”

Shobhakar Dhakal, Vice President of Academic Affairs at the Asian Institute of Technology, and also a Science Steering Committee member of the Global Carbon Project, contributed to Chapter 2 of the report.

Future Earth is an accredited observer organization with IPCC and engages regularly with various international science-policy processes to ensure that there is a clear dialogue both from and to our community. Future Earth engages with IPCC by nominating people as coordinating lead authors, lead authors and review editors for the IPCC Assessment Reports and Special Reports. Our community is also encouraged to contribute as Expert Reviewers on the first and second order drafts of the reports.