Civil society briefing on the Working Group II Report of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment: Beyond the Limits. How Gambling on Overshoot is Pushing the Planet Beyond a Point of No Return

A joint briefing by the Germany-based Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBF) and the U.S. Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) warns that the IPCC report, in stronger language than ever, confirms that climate change is already causing severe and permanent loss and damage to human and natural systems. Exceeding 1.5°C warming would result in further irreversible harm.

The joint HBF-CIEL briefing summarizes the IPCC’s latest findings on the risks of temperature overshoot and of strategies premised on the possibility of returning from such overshoot through the use of solar radiation modification (SRM) or technological carbon dioxide removal (CDR). These options, underscore the report, court grave danger.

The HBF-CIEL briefing underlines that the new IPCC report illustrates how these unproven, highly risky technologies could trigger catastrophic events, particularly in vulnerable parts of the world.

“Temperature overshoot beyond 1.5°C will lead to irreversible and devastating harm and damage to people, ecosystems and species. Moreover, overshooting 1.5°C risks triggering tipping points and feedbacks in the climate system that would accelerate the climate crisis,” says Linda Schneider, Senior Programme Officer at the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Berlin.

“High-risk climate geoengineering technologies like solar radiation modification (SRM) and large-scale technological carbon dioxide removal (CDR) would introduce novel, disastrous risks for people and the planet and cannot be an option,” says Schneider. “We must immediately reduce emissions globally by phasing out all fossil fuels, deliver funding for loss and damage, and avoid temperature overshoot that would further exacerbate global injustices.”

The joint briefing by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung and the Center for International Environmental Law,  “Beyond the Limits: New IPCC Working Group II Report Highlights How Gambling on Overshoot is Pushing the Planet beyond a Point of No Return,” is available here.

Contact details:
Linda Schneider
Senior Programme Officer International Climate Policy
schneider@boell.de
+49 174 435 9497

Media contact
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
Michael Alvarez Kalverkamp
press spokesperson
alvarez@boell.de
T +49 (0)30 285 34-202