Media reaction: IPCC’s new climate science report and what it means for the world

TheIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s(IPCC) latestreporthas prompted a wave of international press reaction to what one publication dubbed the scientific body’s “starkest warning yet”.

Many newspapers have picked up on the “unequivocal” connection made by the IPCC between humans and climate change, as well as thelikelihoodthat the 1.5C target of the Paris Agreement will be breached in the coming years.

The report arrived after aperiodof extreme weather, including record-breaking heatwaves and deadly floods, which have made headlines around the world.

Much of the media reaction has referenced these events and urged national governments to take bold action ahead of the COP26 climate summit later this year.

Indeed, as wildfires continued to blaze in many regions, numerousnewspaperschose harrowing images of burning buildings and trees in Greece to accompany their coverage.

While the media consensus on the IPCC’s findings was virtually unanimous, a small number of right-wing publications included more dismissive takes. TheWall Street Journal, for example, said in an editorial that the report gave “no good reason to sacrifice your life, or even your standard of living, to the climate gods”.

In the grid below, Carbon Brief has collected key reactions from the editorial and comment pages of newspapers from the UK, US and around the world.

The significance of thesixth assessment report(AR6) was acknowledged by many publications with the decision to place it on their frontpages. Below there is also a gallery of some of these pages.

Carbon Brief also has anin-depth Q&Aon the report, anarticleexplaining what it says about the links between climate change and extreme weather, andanotherexplaining what it says about when the world will pass 1.5C and 2C of warming.