The 21st International Weather and Climate Forum hosted by the Climate Academy

The IPCC is categorical: it would be easier for today’s young people, and for the natural world around us, to adapt to the climate in the second half of this century if warming were limited to 1.5°C rather than 2°C. In reality, we are heading almost deliberately towards a temperature rise that could reach 3°C on a global scale, or 4°C or even more in our country. We already know that by 2030 we will have twice as many emissions as we need to have any chance of meeting the target – well below 2°C, if possible 1.5°C – rightly set out in the Paris Agreement.
Failure to achieve carbon neutrality means accepting that global warming will continue indefinitely. And to have any chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, carbon neutrality must be achieved by 2050. So this is a major transition, a real transformation, which in fact offers hope for our young people because it means research, innovation insofar as it helps to reduce emissions rather than the opposite, and the creation of opportunities and jobs.

Jean Jouzel
President of Météo et Climat climatologist and former member of the IPCC, an organisation that was co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.