A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that an increase in heat waves is “virtually certain” as a result of global warming and that extreme weather events — including hurricanes, floods, and droughts — will likely become more intense in the next century.
The IPCC’s “special report on extreme weather,” which includes a range of possible scenarios based on future greenhouse gas emissions, urges governments worldwide to draft plans to minimize the likely human and economic costs of these events.
The report contains grim warnings for developing nations, in particular, which will be more vulnerable to the effects of global warming and have less economic resilience to respond to extreme events.
“Some important extremes have changed and will change more in the future,” said Chris Field, co-chair of the IPCC working group that produced the report. “There is clear and solid evidence (of this).” The report, compiled over two years by more than 200 scientists, was released ahead of global climate talks to be held next month in Durban, South Africa.
Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.
