In this presentation, I will provide an overview of the latest research evidence on the human-induced climate emergency and changes in climate extremes, including the main conclusions of the 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR6) and new research that will be considered in the 7th cycle of the IPCC (2023-2030). Within the IPCC AR6, for the first time an IPCC assessment report included a full chapter dedicated to the topic of weather and climate extremes (Seneviratne et al. 2021). The newest evidence shows that changes in extremes are observed in all regions of the world, and that human influence strongly contributed to observed trends. With every increment of global warming, changes in extremes become larger, with important implications for changes in heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones depending on the region. West-central Europe, including Switzerland, is strongly affected, with an increasing intensity and frequency of heatwaves, droughts and heavy precipitation events as function of global warming.
The evidence on observed and projected changes in droughts and heatwaves has particularly strengthened in recent years. All regions are projected to be affected by multiple changes in climate extremes and other climatic impact drivers with increasing global warming, in particular at 2°C of global warming and above. Limiting global warming to as close as possible to 1.5°C, the limit set in the 2015 Paris Agreement, would be critical to avoid impactful increase in climate extremes, and would require immediate decreases in greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel burning. However, the global emissions of greenhouse gas associated with fossil fuel burning, i.e. petrol, gas and coal, have continued to increase in recent years, although we would have several options to decrease emissions in Switzerland and on global scale. I will highlight potential near-term solutions that can help us decarbonize society and stabilize global warming for a more resilient future.
