Temperatures on Earth will shoot past a key danger point unless greenhouse gas emissions fall faster than countries have committed, a U.N. report says.
BERLIN — Temperatures on Earth will shoot past a key danger point unless greenhouse gas emissions fall faster than countries have committed, the world's top body of climate scientists said Monday, warning of the consequences of inaction but also noting hopeful signs of progress.
Governments agreed in the 2015 Paris accord to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius this century, ideally no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius . Yet temperatures have already increased by over 1.1C since pre-industrial times, resulting in measurable increases in disasters such flash floods, prolonged droughts, more intense hurricanes and longer-burning wildfires, putting human lives in danger and costing governments hundreds of billions of dollars to confront.
Ongoing investments in fossil fuel infrastructure and clearing large swaths of forest for agriculture undermine the massive curbs in emissions needed to meet the Paris goal, the report found. The report's authors said they had"high confidence" that unless countries step up their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the planet will on average be 2.4C to 3.5C warmer by the end of the century — a level experts say is sure to cause severe impacts for much of the world's population.
The U.N. panel said about 40% of emissions since then came from Europe and North America. Just over 12% can be attributed to East Asia, which includes China. The country took over the position as world's top emitter from the United States in the mid-2000s.Its authors highlight myriad ways in which the world can be brought back on track to 2C or even, with great effort, return to 1.5C after that threshold has been passed.
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