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Climate change is now widely recognised as a key risk faced by business. Why is that? What are the expected and potential impacts? What is the scientific consensus that is changing the narrative and business conditions and creating an ever increasing sense that urgent changes must be made to meet the climate change challenge?

The meeting heard from two leaders of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which is the UN body providing policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, options for adaptation and mitigation.

It also heard from the Director and Assistant Director of the Hong Kong Observatory which advises the Hong Kong Government on climate change.

The sessions covered three IPCC Special Reports:

1. Global Warming of 1.5 °C. This considers reviews the difference in climate change impacts of stabilizing temperature at a 1.5 °C versus a 2.0 °C increase. It also advises the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions required to stabilize temperatures at a 1.5 °C increase (published October 2018  www.ipcc.ch/sr15/)
2. Climate Change and Land. This covers the impact of climate change on desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management and food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems (published August 2019  www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/)
3. The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. This covers the impact of climate change on the world’s oceans and on the Greenland and Antarctic Ice-caps. (published September 2019 www.ipcc.ch/report/srocc/)