We know it’s not easy to keep up with all news Climate Change. And at Patch, our goal is to make climate change news, research and technology accessible and readable by all humans - whether you have an advanced scientific degree or not! For this post, we are doing a tl;dr (too long; didn’t read) for the latest IPCC Report.

The IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) latest working group report, as part of the 6th Assessment Report, was released today, and provides a significant update on the scientific evidence on the growing impact of climate change. They did not attempt to sugar-coat the conclusion they came to in this report:

“Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. Any further delay in concerted anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.”

Importantly, this report highlights that climate change is affecting nature, people’s lives and infrastructure everywhere. And, they report that as many as 3.6 billion people live in settings that are highly vulnerable to climate change.

While this report is complex and worth a detailed read, here are a few takeaways that stood out for us:

1. The impacts of climate change are clear and happening now, with some irreversible loss already occurring.
2. Adaptation is critical and efforts must be increased to avert severe impacts and ensure equity.
3. Protecting and restoring nature is critical for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystems at a global scale. This will require conservation of approximately 30-50% of the planet’s land, freshwater and ocean including protecting currently intact ecosystems.
4. There is hope and we can still reduce the impact on future generations by drastically cutting emissions now, but the window is small and time is running out. Choices that governments and businesses make in the next decade will determine outcomes.

While this is a sobering report, we believe in the power of action. Here at Patch, we’re committed to our mission of facilitating gigaton carbon removal by enabling businesses of all sizes to take meaningful climate action. If you are moved by this report and don’t know where to start, send us a note at hello@patch.io and we’d be happy to share how other companies are taking their first steps toward action.