Record heatwaves, deadly floods and other extreme weather events are warning signs of a rapidly warming planet, with the world on course to exceed the 1.5°C temperature threshold set under the Paris Agreement, according to a new UN report.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the world must urgently intensify climate action to limit the duration and extent of any overshoot.
“The fight for 1.5 degrees is the fight for humanity,” Guterres said, warning that the threshold is likely to be breached within the coming years.
The report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says every additional fraction of a degree of warming will increase risks to people, economies and ecosystems.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said extreme heatwaves are already showing that climate impacts are becoming more severe, prolonged and disruptive.
“Every fraction of a degree will cost lives, destroy livelihoods, deepen inequality and push ecosystems closer to irreversible damage,” Guterres said.
However, the UN stressed that the situation is not hopeless. Swift and sustained action could limit the extent of warming above 1.5°C and eventually bring temperatures back below the threshold.
The report calls for faster reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, an accelerated phaseout of fossil fuels, expansion of renewable energy, cuts in methane emissions and greater protection of forests, land and oceans.
Governments are also urged to strengthen national climate plans, improve resilience and adaptation measures, and increase climate finance for vulnerable countries.
The report warns that prolonged warming above 1.5°C could intensify extreme weather, ecosystem loss, sea-level rise, food and water insecurity, and damage to health, infrastructure and economies.
It also says the risk of irreversible climate tipping points, including the destabilisation of major ice sheets and degradation of the Amazon rainforest, increases as temperatures rise and remain elevated.
The UN stressed that successful climate action will require strong political commitment, effective policies, inclusive governance, international cooperation and adequate financing.
Countries that have contributed most to climate change, it said, should move fastest and adopt the greatest level of ambition.
Source: UN News
