The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report Six Working Group I report was released last week and has been described as a ‘code red’ for humanity. The report makes it clear that climate change is widespread, rapid, intensifying and unprecedented in thousands of years. The requirement for climate stabilisation is immediate, strong, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Here we examine the report through a southern African lens, and as two South African lead authors of the report, identify five messages key to the southern African region and its people.