Scientists at the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have demanded the power to set global climate policy as they despair at the slow pace of climate action. The Guardian has the story.
Five lead authors of IPCC reports told the Guardian that scientists should be given the right to make policy prescriptions and, potentially, to oversee their implementation by the 195 states signed up to the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC).
Their call came after it emerged that the United Arab Emirates had been planning to use its position as COP28 host to strike oil and gas deals .
Sonia Seneviratne, an IPCC Vice-Chair and coordinating lead author since 2012, said: “At some point we need to say that if you want to achieve this aim set by policymakers then certain policies need to be implemented.
“As climate change becomes worse and worse, it is becoming more difficult to be policy relevant without being prescriptive.”
Scientists should be able to call for fossil fuel cuts and phaseouts, she said. The discrepancy between IPCC science and action on the ground was “very difficult for us to understand as scientists because it doesn’t seem to make any sense”.
Read more: IPCC Fake Scientists Demand Power to Dictate Global Climate Policy