The Intergovernmental Panel’s report on climate change is political slapstick

“The explosive revelations leave no doubt that climate change is in full swing and will accelerate like a weather turbo,” said globally networked Viennese hail insurance boss Dr. Kurt Weinberger already knew on Monday afternoon that the “Krone” was depressed.

Immediately afterwards, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in the reference book that decision-makers around the world will rely on for years to come, warned more urgently than ever before that the massive negative effects of global warming could increase with every additional tenth of a rank. The experts came to the unequivocal conclusion: “All previous efforts have clearly failed to stabilize the climate at +1.5°C or 2°C!” A slap in the face of politicians!

Depressing key message from the UN body based in Geneva (Switzerland): Smallholder farmers and households in low-lying marine areas and more and more tropical, coastal, polar and mountain ecosystems have irrevocably reached the limits of their adaptability! The latest eco-apocalypse: millions upon millions of dead fish float like a carpet in Australia’s Darling River. The tragedy was caused by a blistering heat record.

“Hundreds of thousands of square miles of human living space are under acute threat,” WWF climate spokesman Thomas Zehetner concludes with a powerful dig at Chancellor Nehammer’s recent “climate reconciliations” in his speech to the nation: “While 20 countries have succeeded in reducing CO2 emissions in the permanently reduced over the past ten years, CO2 emissions in Austria have remained virtually unchanged since 1990.”

The Neusiedler See will inevitably dry up
Perhaps the most drastic example of the rapid climate change in our home regions: In their brand new “White Paper Neusiedler See” (Residenz-Verlag), the authors Christian Janisch and Alois Lang show that the water level in the inland waterways of Burgenland was already 21 centimeters lower in February this year last year. The lake is drying up!

Matthias Grün, President of the Esterhazy Private Foundation, warns: “Our region is confronted with climate change and its enormous consequences at an incredible speed. This is not a regional phenomenon, but affects everyone. Even snow-sure winter sports areas are now being asked to reinvent themselves .”

“Climate protection as human protection”
Marc Olefs, climate impact researcher at GeoSphere Austria (formerly ZAMG), paints a bleak picture in the “Krone” interview.

“crown”: Will climate change make everything worse, or are we just more likely to have Mediterranean nights in Austria?
Mark Olefs: The negative consequences of human-induced climate change clearly predominate, and increasingly warmer nights, especially in urban areas, also have a negative impact on health and our productivity. In addition, many processes in the climate system and the effects of global warming are non-linear, so that we cannot draw conclusions about the future from the past and must also be faced with unpleasant surprises.

What concrete effects will global warming have on the Alpine region?
Depending on further greenhouse gas emissions, significantly more deaths from heat and other health risks, greater damage in agriculture and forestry, local and seasonal lower availability of water, stronger storms with a higher damage potential. Potentially gigantic refugee flows (up to three billion people) from increasingly larger parts of the world where it is too hot outside to survive. Incidentally, the costs of climate protection and adaptation measures are significantly lower than those of doing nothing.

There are still many climate deniers. Can the impending ecological catastrophe be statistically proven?
The most important thing for everyone to understand is that this is not about a green project, but about securing our existence on this planet. Instead of climate protection, it should actually be called human protection.