IPCC report also talks about solutions. Are we listening?

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Editor's note: I have spent the last two days filled with a sense of dread and unease over the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, report outlining the impact of climate change and our vulnerability to it. Hundreds of scientists across the world worked for several years on the report. I don’t want to repeat the grim predictions here. They are traumatic, to say the least, and have been extensively reported. What is striking about the report—and has not been covered in as much detail—are its extensive discussions on solutions. These solutions address not just climate change and its ghastly effects, but also the larger developmental questions that we face, including urbanization, inequality and economic growth. These discussions are spread across the 3,675 pages of the report, and are summarized in chapter-wise FAQs and a dedicated chapter at the end on climate-resilient development.  This is no small news. IPCC reports are, essentially, giant summaries of all the relevant research on climate change. Which means the report reflects findings from actual data collected from a vast number of countries and regions, …