Global climate catastrophe is inevitable unless action is taken soon, UN warns

Scientists and experts have been warning for years that if the average global temperature were to rise 3 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times, it would “catastrophic“for people all over the world. Now, after a year of record emissions, the United Nations warns there are just 10 years left to radically change policies to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.

In the new report In a publication published Thursday, the UN warned that the world is now in “a time of climate crisis” as greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere, causing global temperatures to rise and fueling more extreme weather events, hit.”unprecedented level“

Calling it “one of the most urgent climate warnings to date”, the UN said humanity now has just a few years to minimize the worst impacts of climate change.

“The numbers paint a clear picture,” the UN said. “To keep emissions lower critical target 1.5 degrees According to the decision taken in Paris in 2015, countries must reduce emissions by 42 percent overall by 2030 and achieve a reduction of 57 percent by 2035.”

For decades, scientists have warned that average global temperatures should not rise above 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, when there was a surge in emissions, to prevent deadly weather conditions that would affect people everywhere.

The world is already warmer compared to then, and the consequences have been seen in the form of successive heat waves, droughts and unprecedented floods and hurricanes. The way people can grow food has already begun to change, and with Warming by 1.5–2 degrees Celsius.Crop yields will decline and sea levels could rise by 10 feet. Experts say oceans will also become warmer, causing more powerful hurricanes and threatening ecosystems that are fundamental to the economy and help protect areas from severe weather.

This scenario is already dangerous, but if this threshold is exceeded, entire island nations will disappear, heat waves will become stronger and more frequent, and people will not be able to work as much because their bodies will not be able to tolerate the temperature, according to the UN report.

“We are balancing on a planetary tightrope,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Either leaders close the emissions gap or we plunge headfirst into climate catastrophe.”

A report tracking how countries are tackling climate changefound that radical policy changes must be made immediately or “it will become impossible to achieve a path that would limit global warming to 1.5°C.”

Last year, global greenhouse gas emissions reached a new record of 57.1 gigatons of CO2 warming equivalent, up 1.3% from 2022 levels. This is also significantly higher than the average observed from 2010 to 2019, when emissions averaged 0.8% growth per year. The largest contributors to this growth are energy, industry and transport.

Bye US emissions decreased by 1.4% compared to 2022, the country still ranks second in the world in terms of its contribution, while China ranks first. However, per capita emissions in the US exceed China.

And when it comes to the emissions gap—the difference between where global greenhouse gas emissions are going and where scientists think they should be. prevent the worst consequences — the report reveals an alarming situation. There is currently a 100% chance that global warming will reach 1.5 degrees Celsius if every country fails to meet its net-zero emissions commitments, but even then there is still a 77% chance of reaching that threshold.

If global policies continue as they are, there is a 97% chance of warming reaching 2 degrees Celsius and a 37% chance of warming reaching 3 degrees Celsius, the report says.

“Today’s emissions gap report makes it clear: we are playing with fire,” Guterres said. “But we can’t waste any more time. We’re running out of time.”

But there are solutions that can reduce these chances. If all countries in the Paris climate agreement sharply limited their emissions to reach net zero as quickly as possible, the risk of 2 degrees of warming would become just 20% and would almost completely cancel out the risk of 3 degrees of warming, the report says. Limiting warming to 1.5 Celsius requires cutting emissions by 7.5% globally every year until 2035.

As the report says, this depends on the G20 countries, including the United States. Increased use of solar and wind energy technologies could help cut global emissions by more than a quarter, the report says.

“We will need global mobilization at a scale and pace that has never been seen before,” says UN Environment Program executive director Inger Andersen in the report’s foreword. “Many people will say that this is impossible. But focusing solely on whether this is possible misses one important point: the transition to a zero-emission economy must happen, and the sooner this global transformation begins, the better.”

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