The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) today released its sixth assessment report, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. The report warns that the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit on warming is in serious danger of being surpassed and that the globe could very well surpass the 2°C limit as well. In every scenario outlined, the 1.5°C limit is reached by 2040, with 2°C reached in the 2050s. To prevent a worst-case scenario, the report suggests halving global emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. The IPCC also noted that sea-level rise—and its residual effects—will continue, regardless of climate mitigation efforts.

In response, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh:

“If we couldn’t already tell by the climate disasters arounds us, the new IPCC report makes it clear that climate change is in full force and will continue to exacerbate extreme weather patterns and other climate impacts across the globe. We, and generations to come, will live with the consequences of decades of inaction, misinformation, short-term thinking, and political cowardice. But we still have time to take action and we must do everything in our power to hold warming to the limits set out in this report. That will require tremendous cooperation and courage—right now.

“The time for debate on the climate crisis is long past over. It is real. It is here. We can still take action. It is time to work together to build a clean, thriving, and equitable future. And we have no greater opportunity than the budget resolution being advanced this week in the U.S. Senate. The IPCC report underscores the need for Congress to swiftly advance a bold budget bill that meets this moment, reduces the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change, and builds back better for our workers, communities, and future. We need a bill that invests in retooling and rebuilding manufacturing and repairing and modernizing our infrastructure, growing clean energy and energy efficiency, and supports our care economy to ensure we’re ready for disasters, to build back better for our workers, communities, and future.”