High-level segment of COP24, Tuesday 11 December 2018
Statement by IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, dear colleagues

Three years ago this conference adopted the Paris Agreement, aiming tohold global warming to well below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels and to pursue
efforts to limit it to 1.5ºC.

At the time there was relatively little scientific knowledge specific to the difference
between 1.5ºC and 2ºC global warming.

So you invited the IPCC to prepare a report this year on the impacts of warming of
1.5ºC and related emissions pathways.

The IPCC accepted your invitation.
The report examines the differences between global warming of 1.5ºC and 2ºC andanchored the assessment in the context of sustainable development and efforts toeradicate poverty.

Two months ago we released our Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC.
It forms the main scientific submission to the Talanoa Dialogue at COP24 and isinforming your other deliberations here.

Today, we already live in a world where human activities have caused about 1°C of
global warming, and, at the current pace of warming, we will soon enter a 1.5°C
warmer world.

The key findings of this report are clear:
Climate change is already affecting people, ecosystems and livelihoods allaround the world;

Limiting warming to 1.5ºC is not physically impossible but would require
unprecedented transitions in all aspects of society;There are clear benefits to keeping warming to 1.5ºC rather than 2ºC; and

Limiting warming to 1.5ºC can go hand in hand with achieving other world
goals, including the imperative of a just transition of the workforce.

The report shows that to achieve the goals you have set, you need to take urgent
and far-reaching action – an unprecedented transformation – in all aspects ofsociety, with many implications for policy-making.

This report brings you a substantial amount of new knowledge.
Let me give some examples of the high-confidence statements it contains.
Reaching and sustaining net zero global anthropogenic carbon dioxide
emissions and declining net non-carbon dioxide radiative forcing would halt
anthropogenic global warming on multi-decadal time scales;

The maximum temperature reached is then determined by cumulative net
anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions up to the time of net zero emissions;In model pathways with no or limited overshoot of 1.5ºC , global net
anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions decline by about 45 percent from2010 levels by about 2030;

Estimates of the global emissions outcome of current nationally statedmitigation ambitions as submitted under the Paris Agreement would lead to
global greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 of 52–58 gigatonnes of carbon
dioxide equivalent a year. This is a medium-confidence statement but isfollowed by two high-confidence statements:

Pathways reflecting these ambitions would not limit global warming to 1.5ºC,
even if supplemented by very challenging increases in the scale andambition of emissions reductions after 2030; and

Avoiding overshoot and reliance on future large-scale deployment of carbon
dioxide removal can only be achieved if global
carbon dioxide emissions start to decline well before 2030.

Our report shows that political will is key for the implementation of solutions that
improve well-being and make it possible to limit global warming to 1.5ºC.
It shows that the window to limit warming to 1.5ºC is narrow – that it would requirenet global emissions of carbon dioxide to fall by about 45 percent by 2030.
Every year matters.

Excellencies, you invited the IPCC to prepare a report for your work here.
The IPCC accepted that invitation.
We worked hard with your representatives to prepare and approve the report to achallenging timeline.

And now the IPCC has delivered.

Let me summarize the findings of our report.
Every bit of warming mattersEvery year matters

Every choice matters

We appreciate greatly your recognition of this report.

With this report, the scientific message is clear.
It is now up to you, the governments, to act.