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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established jointly
by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment
Program in 1988. The UN scientific body evaluates the evidence for observed
changes
in
the
climate
system,
the
factors
that
cause
them,
and
future
projections of those changes. It also evaluates climate change's environmental
and socioeconomic impacts and formulates strategic responses for mitigating
greenhouse gases.
With 34 years since its creation and 32 years since the release of its First Report,
the IPCC has provided scientific information on climate change since the early
1990s. Even then, there were indications of an increase in the average global
temperature over the last 100 years (1880 – late 1980), with the five warmest
years occurring in the 1980s. This and a detectable increase in average sea level
were evidence of a long-term trend. The report also revealed that human
activities contributed to increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which, if
not addressed, would lead to additional warming of the Earth's surface air. These
first findings have continued to manifest themselves with an increasingly more
significant degree of certainty, with the IPCC now indicating in the 2021 Report
that
global
warming
is
undoubtedly
real
and
of
anthropogenic
origin.
Furthermore, the consequences of climate change are already manifesting with
droughts, floods, and a greater frequency of extreme weather events such as
those recorded in recent years.
The impacts on the climate system are also already being felt, such as the retreat
of glaciers, the acidification of the oceans, and the rise in sea level, among
others. Since the first report, it has been predicted that the continued increase in
GHG emissions will accentuate warming with irreversible impacts on nature
and consequences for humanity.
The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP) on climate change of the United
Nations (the political-governmental body of decision-makers) held in 2022 in
Egypt did not advance as expected in the commitments for significant action by
countries to continue reducing GHG emissions. Each year, without countries
meeting
their
Nationally
Determined
Contributions
(NDC),
the
Paris
Agreement
becomes
more
challenging
to
meet
regarding
limiting
global
warming to 1.5 degrees by the mid-21st century, containing and reducing
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