Johan Rockström, Director Designate of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Chair of the Earth League:
"Despite the scientific complexity of the new IPCC report, one thing is clear: however we twist and turn our data, we only have a decade left to achieve the CO2 turnaround and protect people from the worst risks of climate change. Better than ever we learn with this report what is at stake with a warming of already 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, the policy measures currently being put on the table by politicians are not even sufficient to comply with the two-degree limit set in Paris. We have already caused one degree of warming globally - and we are on the way to 4 degrees by the end of the century if we do not act now."
Ottmar Edenhofer, designated Director and currently acting Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, also Director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change and Professor at the Technical University of Berlin:
"For decision-makers in politics and business, the report shows once again that CO2 emissions must be effectively priced to exit coal. The revenues could be returned to the people, be it through the expansion of public infrastructure benefiting everyone, or directly through cheques for private households, for a just and fair implementation. Instead of creating more ambitious temperature targets, more ambitious policies must finally be adopted to achieve these targets. If the IPCC report reflects the scientific debate of recent years on the measurement of emission budgets, then this only means that, technically, we may have a few more years. In reality, however, the delays in climate policy have already wasted many years instead of giving people more security against climate risks."
Weblink to the IPCC 1.5 Degree Report: http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/
Weblink to an op-ed in the Guardian by Rockström and Edenhofer: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/05/charge-30-a-tonne-for-co2-to-avoid-catastrophic-4c-warming?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco
