Nov 22, 2024 – Open Letter: An S.O.S. From the Poles to World Leaders at COP29

Media Event | November 22nd, 2024, 13:00 (GMT+4) | Cryosphere Pavilion, Area E, A8 of the Blue Zone at COP29

On the last day of a deadlocked COP29, a group of leading polar and glacier research organizations issued an Open Letter urging immediate and substantial action to address the escalating climate crisis due to the risk of triggering irreversible global impacts from polar ice melt.

The Open Letter has been endorsed by, among others the World Climate Research Program (WCRP), Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the European Polar Board (EPB), and the International Glaciological Society (IGS). Taken at the initiative of several polar research programs alarmed at the lack of inaction in the face of growing observations of polar ice loss, the letter underscores the urgent need to uphold the +1.5°C global warming threshold set by the 2015 UN Paris Agreement.

“The changes in the cryosphere are not isolated events,” the letter emphasizes. “They cascade into widespread and severe impacts on climate stability, ecosystems, livelihoods, economies, and the safety of societies worldwide.” The research bodies stress that exceeding the +1.5°C threshold risks triggering climate tipping points, with devastating consequences for current and future generations. They call on world leaders to meet their commitments under the 2015 UN Paris Agreement and implement robust policies and measures to keep the +1.5°C limit achievable.

All participants will be available for interview after the media event in Baku or virtually.

View & download: Open Letter Press Release

June 6, 2024 – Urgent Ambition Essential for Vulnerable Mountains, Downstream and Low-lying Regions: United Nations Secretary-General Special Address and the 1.5°C Limit

Press Conference | June 6th, 2024, 2:30-3pm CEST | Room Nairobi 4, World Conference Center (WCC), Bonn, Germany

Scientific experts and representatives from countries in mountain, downstream and low-lying regions will hold a press conference today following United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s Special Address yesterday.

Speaking at the Bonn Climate Change Conference, international experts will describe the effects of what Guterres called “the climate road to hell” for people living in mountain and low-lying regions. These countries are on the frontline of the climate crisis and are already suffering severe impacts even before 1.5°C of warming. The participants will explain why 1.5°C is an essential limit, not merely “ambitious”, and how each fraction of a degree counts with growing and irreversible damage from snow and ice regions ongoing today.

All participants will be available for interview after the press conference in Bonn or virtually.

AMI Press Release AMI Press Advisory Watch UN Livestream (With Slides)

If you have any media questions or would like to set up an interview, please contact:

Dec 12, 2023 – Snow and Ice Scientists Alarmed at Weak Climate Outcome: 1000 Scientists Issue Call to COP28: “This Insanity Must Not Continue”

December 12th, 2023 | COP28 Blue Zone, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Alarmed at the lack of urgency the past two weeks in Dubai, over 1000 cryosphere scientists have called on leaders at COP28 to heed signals from what they call ground zero for climate change: the Earth’s cryosphere, or snow and ice regions. Calling the continued rise in CO2 from fossil fuels “insanity,” the scientists – many of them IPCC authors – urged the inclusion of “ice” factors explicitly in the Global Stocktake language. “Yesterday’s text refers to cryosphere just once, as one of many “ecosystems,” said Dr. Regine Hock, who coordinated the Mountains chapter of the IPCC’s 2019 Special Report on Oceans and the Cryosphere (SROCC). “But preserving ice sheets and glaciers by cutting fossil fuel emissions holds the key to continued existence for human communities worldwide.”

“Leaders need to understand that what happens in the cryosphere does not stay there: the impacts are global and mostly irreversible,“ said Dr. Florence Colleoni, who leads dozens of Antarctic ice scientists with the international Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR). “And it’s all about how much CO2 we pump into the atmosphere from fossil fuels.”

To schedule an interview with one of the leading scientists involved in the Call (and those currently in Dubai attending COP), see the press release and list of contacts linked below.

Dec 9, 2023 – COP28 Action Shows Sea-level Rise Could Flood Half the Climate Summit if Today’s Emissions Continue

Scientists and Youth Demonstration at COP28 | December 9th, 2023, 10-10:30am | Located in front of Global Climate Action Area (Zone B7, between Buildings 92 and 93)

As negotiators continue to wrangle over a phase-out of fossil fuels at COP28 in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, leading scientists, global youth and negotiators from low-lying nations will highlight the potentially disastrous implications of climate-change-induced sea level rise for the host city.

A line of COP delegates will form a chain of yellow “hazard” tape along what would be the redefined Dubai coastline – which would cut straight through the middle of the COP28 venue — if fossil fuel emissions continue at their present rate. The demonstration is based on a possible 10 meters of sea level rise by 2300 if we continue on today’s path. “That figure is from Antarctica alone,” says Dr. Florence Colleoni, a leading Antarctic researcher with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). “This is actually a conservative estimate. In fact if Greenland and other factors were added, 15 meters by 2300 cannot be ruled out, according to the IPCC.”

The press release includes contacts details for interviews and further information:

Download Press Release Dubai - Sea Level Rise Maps

Sept 22, 2023 – Ice Emergency: Scientists and Alliance of Concerned Nations Urge UN New York Climate Ambition Summit to “Take 2°C off the Table” to Prevent Catastrophic Impacts from Melting Ice

High-level Event: Friday, September 22, 15:00-16:30 |  | 46 E 70th Street, New York, The Explorers Club

Representatives of a broad coalition of concerned governments, Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI), backed by top international scientists, will deliver an urgent warning about the global impacts of ice and snow melt as the UN Secretary-General convenes a milestone Climate Ambition Summit at United Nations Headquarters on 20 September 2023.

“Without urgent and immediate emissions reductions consistent with the lower Paris Agreement limit of 1.5°C, the damage from ice loss will result in scales of destruction well beyond the limits of feasible adaptation. It will leave no nation untouched”, says Carlos Fuller, a seasoned climate negotiator and Permanent Representative to the United Nations of low-lying nation Belize. This is the message being brought to New York by the member nations of the Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI) High-level Group on Sea-level Rise and Mountain Water
Resources.

The press release includes contacts details for interviews, access to the Event, and further information:

Download Press Release Program Watch Livestream

June 8, 2023 – UNFCCC SB58 Side Event: Loss of Mountain Water Resources and Sea-level Rise: Why 2°C is Too High for 3.5 Billion

Thursday June 8, 11:45-13:00 CEST | Room Kaminzimmer, World Conference Center (WCC), Bonn, Germany

As countries gather in Bonn, Germany to finalize the first evaluation of Paris climate agreement pledges – known as the Global Stocktake – scientists have joined an unusual new grouping of countries urging “2°C is too high” based on the most recent science of the world’s ice.

The 20-nation Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI) group, formed at COP27, includes not just polar and mountain regions (Iceland and Chile co-chair), but Liberia, Vanuatu and Senegal – all highly vulnerable to sea-level rise from melting glaciers and ice sheets. Together with leading scientists, these countries point to fresh research on global impacts from the world’s ice sheets, glaciers, and permafrost. It indicates the original Paris Agreement goal of 2°C is unacceptable. Even the lower 1.5°C limit could be too high. Speakers include negotiators from Chile, Iceland, Belize, Sweden, Bhutan, as well as ICIMOD and ICCI. See full program below.

UNFCCC Press Conference: Wednesday June 7, 12-12:30CEST | Nairobi Room 04, WCC, Bonn, Germany. Press Conference Speakers: Izabella Koziell, Deputy Director, ICIMOD; and Dr. James Kirkham, Antarctic Scientist, Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI). Livestream can be accessed at the following link.

Download Press Release Press Conference Livestream Program Side Event Livestream

If you have any media questions, please contact Irene Quaile (in Bonn), irene@iccinet.org, +49 177 841 2930; Johanna Grabow, johanna@scar.org (in UK); Annie Dare, Annie.Dare@icimod.org (in Kathmandu).

June 1, 2023 – Side Event & Evening Reception at the ATCM, Helsinki

On the evening of June 1st, the Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI) High-level Group on Sea-Level Rise and Mountain Water Resources will be inviting delegates and interested parties to an evening reception where leading scientists and representatives of concerned countries will present the latest information on the global consequences of Antarctic ice loss and the related key issue of the acidification of the Southern Ocean, with major consequences for fisheries and food security.

Download Press Release

Please contact lydie@iccinet.org or amy@iccinet.org with any inquires or questions.