Climate Change (VN Klimaatrapport), 2022, AR6 WGIII: Mitigation of Climate Change

This Report (WGIII) aims to assess new literature on climate mitigation including implications for global sustainable development. In this Sixth Assessment Cycle the IPCC has also published three Special Reports all of which emphasise the rising threat of climate change and the implications for more ambitious mitigation efforts at all scales. At the same time, the Paris Agreement (PA) and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), both adopte…

This Report (WGIII) aims to assess new literature on climate mitigation including implications for global sustainable development. In this Sixth Assessment Cycle the IPCC has also published three Special Reports all of which emphasise the rising threat of climate change and the implications for more ambitious mitigation efforts at all scales. At the same time, the Paris Agreement (PA) and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), both adopted in 2015, set out a globally agreed agenda within which climate mitigation efforts must be located. Along with a better understanding of the physical science basis of climate change (AR6 WGI), and vulnerabilities, impacts, and adaptation (AR6 WGII), the landscape of climate mitigation has evolved substantially since Fifth Assessment Report (AR5).

Strong differences remain in responsibilities for, and capabilities to, take climate action within and between countries. These differences, as well as differences in the impact of climate change, point to the role of collective action in achieving urgent and ambitious global climate mitigation in the context of sustainable development, with attention to issues of equity and fairness as highlighted in several chapters of the report.

Innovation and industrial development of key technologies in several relevant sectors have transformed prospects for mitigation at much lower cost than previously  assessed. Large reductions in the cost of widely-available renewable energy technologies, along with energy efficient technologies and behavioural changes, can enable societies to provide services with much lower emissions. However, there are still significant differences in the ability to access and utilise low carbon technologies across the world. New actors, including cities, businesses, and numerous non-state transnational alliances have emerged as important players in the global effort to tackle climate change.

Along with continued development of concepts, models and technologies, there have been numerous insights from both the successes and failures of mitigation action that can inform future policy design and climate action. However, to date, policies and investments are still clearly inadequate to put the world in line with the PA’s aims.