The first installment of the report titled Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis landed on desks across the globe on the 9th of August 2021. The final Synthesis Report appeared on the 20th of March 2023 during the 58th plenary meeting held in Interlaken.
More than 234 scientists hailing from 66 different countries prepared the document. These experts drew upon more than 14,000 scientific papers to construct a massive text spanning 3,949 pages.
Global surface temperatures reached 1.1 degrees Celsius above the 1850, 1900 average between 2011 and 2020. Scientists established that human activities have unequivocally caused this warming since the pre-industrial era.
At least 3.3 billion people now fall into the category of highly vulnerable to climate impacts which represents about 40 percent of the total human race living on Earth. Developing nations face the most severe consequences as they struggle with rising temperatures and shifting weather patterns.
Projections indicate that the world will likely exceed the 1.5 degree threshold under current emission scenarios starting from 2020. The global carbon budget required to stay below this limit amounts to roughly 500 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases.