The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) announced this week their participation in the 50x30 Coalition, a group of governments and cryosphere and emissions research institutions endorsing the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2030. The Coalition’s founding members endorse the scientific consensus that failure to reach this milestone will result in temperature “overshoot,” in which emissions remain too high to hold Earth within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels, leading to major and irreversible damages to the environment. Damage may be especially harmful for highly temperature-sensitive frozen components of the Earth system, with impacts ranging from sea level rise to infrastructure damage to food insecurity.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Reports on 1.5°C of Warming (SR1.5, 2018) show that median global reductions of 50 percent are needed by 2030 to hold global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels. However, a February 2021 report from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) indicates that most governments are not taking meaningful steps to do so. The 50x30 Coalition partners with and features governments that are on track to reach these emissions goals. NSIDC plays a scientific advisory role within the coalition, offering scientific expertise on the cryosphere and how climate change will impact the frozen parts of the planet, including sea ice, ice sheets, glaciers and more. The IPCC is a United Nations body made up of scientists and policymakers that is responsible for assessing the science related to climate change.
Scientific institutions that are involved in 50x30 include the American Geophysical Union, Antarctic Research Centre/University of Victoria (New Zealand), Bolin Centre/Stockholm University (Sweden), Bristol University Glaciology Centre (UK), Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London (UK), University of Massachusetts Amherst (U.S.), Climate Analytics (Germany), and NSIDC.
A 50x30 Coalition launch event will be held on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, and speakers include IPCC scientists and 50x30-consistent governments who have endorsed the 50x30 mission statement. NSIDC senior research scientist Julienne Stroeve will speak about Arctic sea ice loss and the impacts of passing 1.5 degrees Celsius. View the full program here.
WHAT: Launch Event of 50x30 Coalition
Program and Speakers: www.50x30.net/launch-event
DATE: Wednesday, April 21, 2021
TIME: 9:30 am to 11:00 am MDT (15:30-17:00UTC, 17:30-19:00CEST, 11:30-13:00 EDT)
VIEW: Livestream links available from 15:15UTC at www.50x30.net.
The event will be livestreamed on YouTube, Facebook and Twitch.
REGISTER: For a reminder, register at www.50x30.net/launch-event.