the message is simple but Stark time is
running out to save the planet the
latest climate change report released by
the U.N late yesterday showed that Earth
is on track to reach a critical
threshold that will lead to dangerous
overheating with catastrophic results in
the next decade but all hope is not lost
according to scientists if countries are
willing to make immediate and drastic
shifts away from fossil fuels for our
ongoing series Peril and promise
examining the human impact of climate
change I'm joined Now by Bob Kopp a sea
level rise professor at Rutgers
University and a contributing author to
that un report Bob thanks so much for
being with us today I've got to say the
message feels dire the Earth is in
trouble what will be the global impacts
if collectively Nations don't change
course
well right now we are on track for
exceeding the one and a half degrees
Celsius Target set out in the Paris
agreement and by the middle of the next
decade or so
and so in order to avoid overshooting
that Target by too much
we need to be on a trajectory that gets
our emissions rapidly to zero if we
actually wanted to stay below that
Target
um which has been set out as a goal we
would need to get our global net carbon
dioxide emissions to Zero by around the
middle of the century
um and have roughly 50 reductions uh by
the end of this decade that's very
ambitious now one and a half degrees C
is not a cliff every increment of
warming makes things a little worse it
makes heat waves more severe it makes
sea level rise a little faster
um and makes the challenges we all face
particularly
um people with lower income and people
who have contributed less the problem
makes those challenges more severe
um so every increment we can do to
prevent the uh the ultimate magnitude of
ride to lower that ultimate magnitude of
Rise helps a little bit the UN report
really recommends shifting away from
fossil fuels in a in a dramatic way what
should that look like
well you know what the report says that
if you is that if you look at the
scenarios consistent with the targets
that the nation of the world agreed that
means you know the more stringent Target
set out on the Paris agreement one and a
half degrees Celsius that would mean
something like Net Zero Global emissions
of carbon dioxide by the 2050s the less
stringent Target about two degrees
Celsius that would be Net Zero by about
the 2070s so either way it would mean
getting emissions onto a downward
trajectory very rapidly the report also
says that shifting to a low carbon
economy would require about three to six
times more investment than what we've
already invested in green energy just in
terms of dollars what does that mean
here in the US and can we afford it
well the question is what can't we
afford
um right in many cases in fact these are
investments uh that save us uh money in
the long run
um both not just because we're avoiding
the impacts of climate change because
also actually
um if you look uh at the world today
things like solar energy tend to be the
cheapest source of energy so a lot of
the these
um Technologies I think where we spend
money up front to save money in the long
run now the transition is not free it
requires it will require spending money
but continuing to invest in fossil fuels
continuing to dump carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere these all also bear
substantial costs
um and so you know the the
um from an economic perspective it's a
trade-off between you know spending a
little money now to get things that are
you know in some cases directly
benefiting our health so the report
talks about how the air pollution
reduction benefits of transitioning
fossil fuels would practically be enough
to say for hey for a lot of the
transition itself
um as well as the benefits of not
continuing to turn up the planetary
thermostat you mentioned who is impacted
and the issue of climate Justice does
come up in this report you mentioned
it's often folks who who didn't
contribute who is most impacted by these
Rising temperatures
yeah so it depends on what impact you're
looking at but the general pattern is
pretty clear the most severe impacts of
climate change tend to fall upon people
who are in hotter parts of the world and
from people who have fewer resources
um right so we've done work in my group
and collaborators on the global Health
impacts of climate change and there you
have a very clear pattern where you know
the low-income countries tend to be
hotter and they get the most severe
effects
um you know people up in Scandinavia
might actually get some health benefits
from a slightly warmer climate but it's
the the people in Europe and North
America and increasingly in China who
are contributing the most to the problem
not necessarily the complacent people
getting the most harm from it absolutely
Bob Kopp thank you so much for your
expertise here
my pleasure
lead funding for parallel and promise is
provided by Dr p Roy vagalos and Diana T
vagalos major support is provided by the
Marc Haas foundation and Sue and Edgar
Wachenheim III and the Cheryl and
Philip milstein family
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thank you
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