TERI Director General on the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report

New Delhi, February 28, 2022: The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) has released the Sixth Assessment Report on Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation & Vulnerability today. The report assesses the impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability due to climate change. There is a need to systematically channel the efforts towards adaptation actions to ensure sustainable development and combat climate change.

This report has identified the increasing gaps between adaptation action taken and adaptation action needed. It says these gaps are most prominent in lower-income populations.

It has also acknowledged the mitigation bias in global climate finance. The report supports allocation of 50% of climate finance for adaptation goals. As this report highlights the gaps in actions taken and actions needed vis-à-vis adaptation, especially in low-income populations. It indeed brings out the technology deficiency of the low-income states. Developed countries should show their resolve towards collective climate action, ensure technology transfer, and increase the share of adaptation finance in climate finance.

The report has rightly suggested the synergy of climate policies and climate laws with the implementation plans at the grass-root level. It has also called for civil society participation from planning to implementation stages of the adaptation actions. While releasing the report, the IPCC Chair rightly said, “the stakes for our planet have never been higher.”

I am sure the report will serve as an informative toolkit for all states, and policymakers will utilize it to its best while framing adaptation action.