I thought I would take some time to break down the report. It is not an easy document to read. In fact, it’s impossible if you’re not into scrolling through a 3000 page document.

However, some of the basic points are made up front, while other important info is deeper in weeds. I thought I would take notes as I read it, and share them with you. Much of it is mind-bendingly repetitive, but some of it is worth retaining and understanding.

I’ll try to break it down for those of us who just want to understand what’s coming and what to do next.

North America and Canada are the worst Green House Gas emitters, per person. You could make an argument that China is worse, but only if you look at the country as a whole. There are 1.4 billion people in China, only 300 million in the US. We are each responsible for our own footprint and I think that is worth knowing. Individually, the US and Canada are the worst…in the world.

Here’s another chart to indicate the same thing. The US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have the farthest to go to get to Sustainable Development. We are the ones who are unsustainable.

“Without a strengthening of policies beyond those that are implemented by the end of 2020, GHG emissions are projected to rise beyond 2025, leading to a median global warming of 3.2 by 2100.”

2025 is the latest we can peak for GHG emissions. Emissions during 2010-2019 were higher than any other time in human history. As we all know, in 2020, they dropped by 5.4% because of the pandemic. However, in 2021 we are back up by 6%.

As you can see from the chart above, if we just do the things that countries have already promised to do, we’re still not in a good place.

“Industry emissions continue to increase, driven by global demand for basic materials. Without reduction in materials demand growth and a very rapid scale-up of low carbon innovations, the long lifetime of industrial capital stock risks locking in emissions for decades to come.”

This is a big deal. Industry emissions include industry, building and transport. The report is talking about DEGROWTH here. Demand must go down, so that production goes down, so that industry emissions can go down. This is one of the biggest dilemmas I see so far in the report. They tell us what needs to be done, but not how to do it. The report does mention many times that more and more people are aware of the need for change. But that does not and has not translated to actual change.

I will leave you with this thought:

“Globally, households with income in the top 10%, contribute about 36-45% of global GHG emissions.”

Top 10% of global income is $122,100 and above.