Charting a new climate

Abstract

This new focus on climate-related risks and opportunities sits within a context of intensifying climate change impacts. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on global warming of 1.5°C estimates that human activities have already caused about 1°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels.1 If global GHG emissions continue to increase at the current rate, warming is likely to reach 1.5°C by around 2040 and up to 4°C by the end of the century. Yet the world will face severe climate impacts even with 1.5°C of warming. Physical risks – which result from climate variability, extreme events and longer-term shifts in climate patterns – are already being experienced and are set to intensify in the future.