Professor Valérie Masson-Delmotte:

I can try. The Deputy can see that she is putting me outside of my comfort zone in that the IPCC reports are policy-relevant but they have to be neutral. In a way, she asked me to provide advice or recommendations. I just want to make that clear.

The first question was about the political system and the changes that are needed to facilitate the transitions. What is really interesting about our report is that in chapter 4, Strengthening the Global Response, it looks at the systems transitions, integrating adaptation and mitigation, not separated, and then for each big option for adaptation or mitigation it looks at six dimensions of feasibility - geophysical, environmental, technological, economic and socio-cultural in terms of the notion of acceptability and finally the institutional part. This effort was based on scientific literature and it helps to identify where the barriers are. For many options available today, the barriers are on the institutional side. As a result, what is really relevant is to identify where the barriers are. In many ways, they are in how administrations operate in silos rather than having an integrated approach. There are options for thinking about differently how political systems work to facilitate the implementation of transitions where we see they are feasible in terms of technology and the economy but sometimes it is governments that are not ready to deploy them at the scale on which they could be deployed.

The second point was about market mechanisms. That is really outside my area of expertise. I am not sure I am the right person to comment on that part but it is clear that free markets without governance cannot help deploy solutions at the scale at which they are needed. What is really important is governance. There is experience from various regions of the world showing that a number of tools are available, including, but not only, carbon prices,. Then there are lessons learned from what works in many different contexts.

I share the Deputy's view regarding the notion of a just, fair or ethical transition. Our report is very explicit on that in the framing chapter and in the last chapter on the sustainable development pathways. It means for each choice paying specific attention to those who are most exposed and vulnerable to climate change or to the policy response options and considering their interests upfront. It is reversing the power structure in a way to make sure that the policy decisions protect the most vulnerable people. That is really a key ingredient. There are many lessons learnt from many other changes such that if transitions are not designed to be just and fair then their implementation will fail because of the public perception of not being involved in the decision-making or being disproportionately affected by the decisions, especially for the poorest.