The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new report finalized April 4, calling for immediate action to reduce climate change and greenhouse gas emissions in several areas.
The IPCC’s working group put together the report titled Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, which is the third part of the Sixth Assessment Report.
University of Wisconsin La Follette School of Public Affairs professor Gregory Nemet was one of the lead authors of the latest report. Nemet said the report is different from the other IPCC reports in the past, as it considers other necessities that have not been suggested before.
“The report shows the clear need for a much deeper set of policy commitments and accelerated investment in and adoption of clean technologies,” Nemet said in an email statement to The Badger Herald.
The report showed evidence of progress, such as the fact that more than 24 countries have reduced their gas emissions over 10 years. It also showed the reduced costs and increase in adoption of some of the mitigation technologies like wind, solar and electric vehicles. Nemet credited policies with a significant role in encouraging this type of innovation and technology adoption.
Nemet, who authored a book about the history of solar energy and how it grew to be so inexpensive over time, said this expertise allowed him to join the group of authors on the latest report. Nemet also said that it was meaningful for him to see the graphic that he had designed at UW being globally used and reproduced by news outlets following the report’s release.
“There were many chapters of the report that wanted to tell part of that story so I ended up being an author on five chapters and then on the summary for policymakers as well,” Nemet said.
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Nemet said he is a self-proclaimed climate optimist. While the situation with climate change is getting worse, Nemet said the solutions to mitigate the climate crisis have been getting better.
Nemet said he believes people need to be creative and persistent to make changes to reduce climate change.
“I think people have a moral obligation to be optimistic because it’s impossible to accomplish change if you are not optimistic that change can happen,” Nemet said. “And there are many who are.”
