Highlights and images for 4 August 2021

If plastic production stays on its current trajectory, by 2030, greenhouse gas emissions from plastic could reach 1.34 billion tons per year, equivalent to the emissions produced by 300 new 500MW coal-fired power plants. (photo courtesy of Abir Abdullah)

On the ninth day, delegates continued their consideration of the Summary for Policymakers of the Working Group I (WG I) contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Three plenary sessions took place during the day, addressing subsections on:

global surface temperature increase in the near term;
irreversible long-term changes;
low-likelihood high-impact outcomes;
equilibrium climate sensitivity;
effects of strong reductions in CO2 and non-CO2 emissions;
impacts of global warming on the global water cycle; and
the role of natural drivers and internal variability.

In addition, authors met to discuss proposed responses to delegates’ comments, and contact group discussions addressed a number of subsections, including on the scale of recent changes across the climate system.