Dr. Debra Roberts – Adapt or die: The new IPCC report and our options for adapting to climate change

In the 3rd episode of Planet A’s fourth season, Dan Jørgensen talks with Dr. Debra Roberts co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC).

The IPCC recently released its report ”Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” that assesses the impact climate change could have on ecosystems, biodiversity and human communities.

Dr. Roberts calls the report a clear wake-up call that will force us to either ”adapt or die”.

For some animals, the latter option may become their fate. The report finds that - even if we meet the goal enshrined in the Paris Accord - there will be a severe loss of biodiversity.

Thus, an increase in global temperatures of 1.5° will ”very likely” result in the extinction of somewhere between 3 and 14 percent of the several thousand land dwelling species that the IPCC looked at.

Furthermore, a 5° increase in global temperatures could eradicate up to 48 % of the land based species.

Some developments - such as hydrological changes resulting from the retreat of glaciers – have already become irreversible, leading to more droughts and rising sea levels.

However, the report also outlines feasible and effective adaptation options, which can reduce risks to people and nature. 

Dr. Roberts argues that to enable climate resilient development, it will require systemic change in everything from the way we produce energy to how we build cities and manage ecosystems.