The one UN climate report graphic you need to see
- Media Manager
- Mar 21, 2023
- 2 min read
Axios Generate
Written By: Andrew Freedman
Published: March 22nd, 2023
This figure from figure SPM.1 in the United Nations IPCC's AR6 Synthesis Report shows the observed and possible projected global temperature trends and how they would impact different generations. Image: UN IPCC
A new graphic released Monday from the UN climate panel conveys the most important scientific findings about climate change — and breaks new ground.
Why it matters: From the depths of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments comes a unique global warming data visualization.
It illustrates how future warming depends on various emissions scenarios, and shows how climate change already affects — and is poised to alter — the lives of generations born in 1950, 1980, and 2020.
It underscores the responsibility people currently have to alter course on greenhouse gas emissions in the decades and centuries ahead.
Zoom in: The IPCC report contains stark findings, including that the world is way off track in limiting the severity of global warming; but there's still time to rein in emissions from fossil fuels, land use change and other sources.
For the 1950s group, much of the climate change they have experienced has occurred since the 1970s, when the fingerprints of greenhouse gases became more pronounced.
Those born in 1980 have already seen large and rapid shifts in climate, and will be 70-years-old during the middle of the century, which is the timeframe for when nations' emissions are supposed to hit net zero.
People born in 2020, however, could see a world that warms dramatically more than it has so far if emissions remain high.
The intrigue: Alex Ruane, a member of the IPCC report’s core writing team and a NASA climate researcher, tells Axios the generational icons show three groups of people, rather than only the oldest and youngest groups.
It's meant to depict how climate conversations are taking place today between grandparents, parents and children.
“Those conversations really are happening about the current state of the world and the future state of the world that we're leaving for our children and grandchildren,” Ruane said in an interview.
Our thought bubble: Now that people can see themselves in a climate projection, they may find the size, speed and scope of the climate challenge a bit unsettling.
