A look at the global situation as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases its 5th annual assessment report (IPCC AR5).

1. Climate Change
Reality Check
© Daniel Beltra / Greenpeace

2. Storm near Fort Dodge, Iowa, USA. © Greenpeace / Daniel Beltrá
How bad is climate change by now?
How bad can it get?
What can we do about it?
Here’s the story in short.*
* = The findings are derived mainly from the Fifth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),

3. Climate change, caused by our greenhouse gas pollution, is
already widespread. Impacts can be detected on all
continents and across the ocean. (IPCC, 2013)
Glacier Pio XI, Patagonia. © Greenpeace / Daniel Beltrá

4. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in New Jersey. © Greenpeace / Tim Aubry
“The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the
amounts of snow and ice have diminished,
sea level has risen, and the concentrations of
greenhouse gases have increased.”
(IPCC, 2013)

5. Oceans have absorbed more than 90% of the heat
accumulating in the atmosphere, driving species towards
cooler waters. CO2 is now causing oceans to acidify at a rate
that is likely the fastest in 300 million years, posing a serious
threat to marine life. (IPCC, 2013; WMO 2014)
"The combination of acidification, warming and deoxygenation that we are seeing - the so-called 'deadly trio' is
unprecedented in the carbon record. It poses a serious threat not just to the ocean but to the Earth system services it
supports and there can be no stronger imperative for action by governments and others to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions to the lowest possible levels in the shortest amount of time".
Alex Rogers, IPSO Scientific Director and Professor of Conservation Biology, University of Oxford
Alacranes Reef, Mexico. © Luis Sandoval / Greenpeace

6. Species have shifted their geographic ranges, seasonal
activities, migration patterns and abundances.
(IPCC, 2013)
Golden Toad © U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

7. Negative impacts on crop yields have been more
common than positive impacts. Climate extremes in
key producing regions have resulted in periods of
rapid food and cereal price increases. (IPCC, 2014)
A rice field destroyed by salt water from huge tidal surges in Sundarbans, India. © Greenpeace / Peter Caton

8. Since the 1950s, many of
the observed changes are
unprecedented
over decades to millennia.
(IPCC, 2013)
Amazon Drought, October 2005. © Greenpeace / Daniel Beltrá

9. There are alarming signs of things getting rapidly worse.
Cyclone Phailin Aftermath in India. © Peter Caton / Greenpeace

10. “The world experienced
unprecedented high-impact
climate extremes during the 2001-
2010 decade”
(WMO, 2013)
Steppe Fire in Russia. © Greenpeace / Igor Podgorny

11. From 2002 to 2011, the Greenland ice
sheet lost ice six times faster
on average compared to the decade
that went before it.
(IPCC, 2013)
Greenland melt lake. © Greenpeace / Nick Cobbing

12. Since 1993, on average, sea levels have been rising
nearly twice as fast as during the past century. (IPCC, 2013)
Betio village, Kiribati. © Greenpeace / Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert

13. The Arctic sea ice extent has been diminishing
significantly faster than projected. (IPCC, 2013)
Ice Floe in the Arctic. © Daniel Beltrá / Greenpeace

14. In May 2014 NASA-UCI study reported: glaciers in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctica
have passed a point of no return. The melting is now unstoppable and will
eventually cause sea levels to rise by 1.2 meters. The loss of ice could also trigger the collapse of the
rest of the West Antarctic ice sheet, which would result in a sea level rise of 3 to 5 meters. (NASA)
NOTE! This finding is too fresh to be covered in the IPCC 5th Assessment Report.
For more information, see NASA Glaciologist Eric Rignot’s blog here: http://goo.gl/LhS0Ql
© Daniel Beltra / Greenpeace

15. IT’S US

16. "It is extremely likely (95%) that human influence has been the dominant
cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century." (IPCC, 2013)
© Simon Lim / Greenpeace

17. The atmospheric concentrations of carbon
dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide have
increased to levels unprecedented in at
least the last 800,000 years. (IPCC, 2013)
Activists protesting a new coal-fired power plant at the Maasvlakte in Rotterdam. © Greenpeace / Joël van Houdt

18. Most emissions result from the burning of fossil fuels.
From 2000 to 2010 emissions grew particularly fast,
largely due to the increased burning of coal. (IPCC, 2014)
Qinhuangdao Coal Port in China. © Greenpeace / Liu Feiyue

19. The rest of emissions are largely caused by
deforestation, agriculture and other land-use.
(IPCC, 2014)
Farmed land on completely deforested area in the Amazon. © Greenpeace / Daniel Beltrá

20. How bad can it get?
Child on Flooded Street in Porto Velho, Brazil. © Lunae Parracho / Greenpeace

21. How bad it gets is up to us
Every ton of oil, coal or gas we burn or forest
we destroy is making the situation worse. With
continued emissions we could witness 4-5°C
warming or more by the end of the century.
That is multiple times the warming experienced
to date and approaches the difference between
today and the last ice age, happening during
one person’s lifetime instead of millennia.
(IPCC, 2014; WB 2012)
Dukhdev Tikadar, living in Ghoramara island, India, is one of the many people affected by sea level rise. © Greenpeace / Peter Caton

22. Further warming threatens the fundamentals of
human security: homes, food, water, income,
health and livelihoods. (IPCC, 2014)
Aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. © Matimtiman / Greenpeace

23. war
Indirectly, climate change increases the risk of violent conflicts in the form of civil
war and inter-group violence by amplifying poverty and economic shocks. (IPCC, 2014)
© Greenpeace / Pierre Gleizes

24. "There is no one on Earth who escapes the
effects of climate change.” (Michael Oppenheimer, IPCC Lead Author)
Moorland, Somerset, UK. © Adam Gray/SWNS.com

25. What can we do about it?
Protest at Ministry of Energy in Bangkok. © Greenpeace / Vinai Dithajohn

26. If we act fast to cut emissions, catastrophic and
irreversible impacts can still be avoided.
Warming can still be limited to well below 2°C by 2100.
Solutions are more available than ever before.
Rainforest in Tasmania. © Markus Mauthe / Greenpeace

27. In just a few years, renewable energy technologies
have demonstrated substantial performance
improvements and cost reductions, and a growing
number of technologies have achieved a level of
maturity to enable deployment at a significant
scale. (IPCC, 2014)
The PS20 solar tower plant at Sanlucar la Mayor outside Seville, Spain. © Markel Redondo / Greenpeace

28. “The use of renewable energy is often associated
with co-benefits, including the reduction of air
pollution, local employment opportunities, fewer
severe accidents compared to some other energy
supply technologies, as well as improved energy
access and security.” (IPCC, 2014)

29. Recipe for action
(IPCC findings made easy)

30. 1. Head for zero emissions, starting now
• There is no safe level of greenhouse gas
pollution. Eventually, emissions must be
brought to zero.
• First priority is to stop emissions growth
within a few years and get them to a rapidly
declining trend.
• The costs of action will be moderate, while
the costs of inaction would be unthinkable.

31. 2. Switch from dirty to clean energy
• Conventional fossil fuel technologies burning coal, oil and
gas, must be phased out in the coming decades and
replaced with zero and low-carbon energy technologies.
• The vast majority of known fossil fuel reserves must
remain in the ground.
• Improving energy efficiency in buildings, transport and
industry has big potential and comes with many benefits.
• During the next 5 to 15 years, investment trends and
financial flows must be shifted away from fossil fuel
extraction and technologies into solutions.
Offshore wind farm Tuno Knob, Denmark. © Greenpeace / Kate Davison

32. “Renewable energy is a real option. Half of the
world’s new electricity generating capacity in
2012 came from renewables. We also have
tremendous opportunities to improve energy
efficiency. And we can further reduce
emissions by stopping deforestation.”
(IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri at the New York Climate Summit 2014)
Wind Farms in Iowa. © Karuna Ang / Greenpeace

33. 3. Protect forests and oceans to protects ourselves
• Protecting forests is crucial both for reducing
warming and for adapting to it.
• Healthy forests and oceans are better at coping
with the stress caused by changing climate.
Tropical Rainforest in Brazil (Itaqui, Parana). © Markus Mauthe / Greenpeace

34. 4. Heal our food system
• Our food system needs to adapt to a changing
climate and limited resources.
• Ecological farming practices help farmers to
increase production in a way that protects and
enhances soil, water, and biodiversity and
contributes to greenhouse gas mitigation.
Organic Farming in Negros. © Andri Tambunan / Greenpeace

35. 5. Face the true scale of climate change
• We will have to adapt to the changes that we can no longer prevent. Future
risks must be assessed in a realistic manner.
• The more fossil fuels we burn and the more forests we destroy, the bigger
and more unpredictable the risks, and the harder they will be to adapt to.
• At some point, the impacts could become impossible to adapt to.
Child in the Amazon near Santarem. © Markus Mauthe / Greenpeace

36. There’s a better, cleaner and safer future that is already
unfolding around the world. But we must speed up the
transition away from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy.
Children in Dharnai Village in India. © Vivek M. / Greenpeace

37. Let’s just
do it!
Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters