CPF Statement on the Sixth Synthesis Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

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Posted on 03/23/2023 by PCF

The Sixth Synthesis Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the culmination of tremendous work by hundreds of scientists from around the world who must be saluted. This report confirms the certainty that human influence is the sole cause of ongoing climate change. The current trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions will lead us to a catastrophic 3°C temperature rise by the year 2100, sea level rise that will continue for centuries or even millennia, with catastrophic consequences for billions of people, who are essentially the poorest, moreover, Least responsible for emissions history. In short, the report shows that if humanity is responsible for the current global warming, it also has the means to adapt to its inevitable consequences, and above all to mitigate it in order to keep the planet habitable.

France is already marked by the effects of climate change. The heat waves and droughts that hit mainland France illustrate this, as does the rise in sea level, which increases the frequency of floods and the intensity of extreme events in the overseas territories. To meet the climate challenge, it is necessary to strengthen scientific research and operational monitoring of land and climate, to bridge the gap between science and policy so that adaptation and mitigation policies are based on the latest.

To implement these goals, France must invest heavily in its research by granting long-term credits to its laboratories; Public service activities must be protected to produce operational knowledge and serve as support for adaptation and mitigation policies. These must be part of the honest perversity of what should make it possible to respect the Paris Agreements. It is therefore necessary to invest intensively in building insulation, public transportation instead of thermal mechanization, in carbon-free energies and move towards increasing the electrification of end uses, by supporting electricity production on a diversified mix that takes nuclear energy as a controllable base. Agriculture must evolve to become more water-efficient, developing natural carbon sinks such as forests, plants, and soils, the effectiveness of which depends on good biological health; Switching to a meat-less diet will contribute to less water consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Complying with the Paris accords finally deserves ambitious diplomatic initiatives, not allowing successive Conferences of the Parties to become bogged down in the inaction and paralysis orchestrated by climate-killing lobbies; The powers of the Supreme Council for Climate should be expanded and not only evaluate public policies in terms of climate requirements, but also special actions. The bleeding of the Ministry of Environment and the public institutions that depend on it must be stopped; They must redefine their missions and their surroundings, increase their resources, and place them at the service of an ambitious policy of comprehensive and enduring knowledge of the climate system and biodiversity.

For a habitable planet will soon be important 9 billion people in 2050, preserving the climate and resources, We need a completely different economic system that goes beyond the immediate profit criterion, takes into account long-term issues and puts human development at the center. A world in which cooperation is the rule, and a reduction in spending on armaments begins, and a halt to nuclear weapons seriously considered and put on the agenda: the credits freed up for climate will be redirected, thus, $1,000 billion a year in aid to poor countries that Claimed by the latter at COP26. The Climate Bank can also massively finance mitigation and adaptation policies for the poorest countries, in cooperation with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, whose mandates must be redefined. It is also a matter of reorienting trade and free trade agreements so that they incorporate climate restrictions, and ensure that patents are distributed for the best current low-carbon technologies.

This is the path that the PCF proposes to embark on for the world, in line with the alarming observation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in order to meet the major challenges of the Anthropocene, of which climate change is a component.

Paris, 03.22.2023
French Communist Party