The European Academy of Sciences urges on the efective adoption of measures to fight climate change and comply with the Paris Agreement to limit global warming, based on a sound scientific knowledge. This official declaration has been prepared by the Earth and Environmental Sciences Division and it has been approved by the General Board of EurASc.
***
“The European Academy of Sciences highlights the urgency of climate action
Madrid, October 20th, 2019
The European Academy of Sciences (EURASC) welcomes the recent publication of three special reports by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in just one year. These special reports have been approved by the 195 governments represented at the IPCC. They will serve as the scientific basis for delegates of the 25th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) who are about to meet at COP25 in Santiago de Chile to progress on the implementation of the Paris Agreement and move towards its goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C above preindustrial temperature and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.
The IPCC report on 1.5°C of global warming provides abundant details of the growing implications of a warming climate and highlights that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, farreaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society. The report on land shows that land is a critical resource that is already under growing human pressure, that climate change is adding to these pressures and that keeping global warming to 1.5°C or well below 2ºC can be achieved only by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors including land and food. The report on ocean and cryosphere highlights the deteriorating state of the ocean as it is becoming warmer, more acidic and less productive, coastal extreme events are becoming more extreme from sea level rise, with profound consequences of climate change for ecosystems and people, and the urgency of prioritizing timely, ambitious and coordinated action.
Taken together these scientific assessments provide the clearest and most comprehensive knowledge on climate change, its impacts, and the solutions available. They highlight the urgency to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions towards net zero (any residual emissions being offset by active removals) as early as 2050 to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. The reports also highlight the need to develop adaptation responses to limit the inevitable impacts of climate change, including in developing countries, which require knowledge sharing and financial support.
The European Academy of Sciences strongly recommends that this tremendous effort by the scientific community should be embraced by the delegates at COP25 to progress rapidly in the full and timely implementation of the Paris Agreement in order to limit the extent and consequences of climate change.
Professor Doctor Rodrigo Martins and Professor Doctor Helene de Rode
President and Perpetual Secretary
European Academy Sciences of Sciences”
***