Chapter 1: Point of Departure and Key Concepts

The IPCC Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report addresses the challenges of climate action in the context of sustainable development with a particular focus on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Since IPCC AR5, human influence on the Earth’s climate has become unequivocal, increasingly apparent, and widespread, reflected in both the growing scientific literature and in the perception and experiences of people worldwide (high confidence). Since AR5, climate action has grown in salience worldwide across all levels of government as well as among non-governmental organisations, small and large enterprises and citizens (high confidence). IPCC’s assessments have grown and changed substantially over the last three decades. Adaptation plays a key role in reducing risks and vulnerability from climate change. Implementing adaptation and mitigation actions together with SDGs helps to exploit synergies, reduce trade-offs and make all three more effective. The concepts of risk and risk management have become increasingly central to climate change literature, research, practice and decision making (medium confidence). The concepts of adaptation, vulnerability, resilience and risk provide overlapping, alternative entry
points for the climate change challenge (high confidence). Risks from climate change differ through space and time and cascade across and within regions and systems. The total risk in any location may thus differ from the sum of individual risks if these interactions, as well as risks from responses themselves, are not considered (high confidence). 

Increasingly, impacts are detected and attributed to the changing climate. Improved understanding of deep history (palaeoclimate and biotic responses) suggests that past climate changes have already caused substantial ecological, evolutionary and socio-economic impacts (high confidence). Many recent impacts are not detected, due to a shortage of monitoring and robust attribution analysis (high confidence). Narratives play an important role in communicating climate risks and motivating solutions. AR6 highlights adaptation solutions and the extent to which they are successful and adequate at reducing climate risk, increasing resilience and pursuing other climate-related societal goals. Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge (IK and LK) can provide important understanding for
acting effectively on climate risk and can help diversify knowledge that may enrich adaptation policy and practice (high confidence). AR6 highlights three principles of climate justice: distributive justice, procedural justice and recognition.  Concepts of justice and measures of well-being are increasingly used to evaluate the extent to which climate change adaptation is equitable and effective (medium confidence). 

Effective governance, adaptation finance and nature-based solutions are important enablers for expanding the solutions space and reducing adaptation gaps (high confidence). Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of adaptation refers to a broad range of activities necessary for tracking adaptation progress over time, improving adaptation effectiveness and successful iterative risk management. The future transformation could be deliberate, envisioned and intended by at least some societal actors. Transformation is understood as a collective action challenge among actors with both common and differing values interacting with a mix of competition and cooperation. This report employs the climate-resilient development concept to inform co-ordinated implementation of adaptation and mitigation solutions to support sustainable development for all.