Abu dhabi: Record heat waves, deadly flooding, and extreme weather reflect an ever-warming planet poised to soon breach safe temperature limits, according to a UN report, but doubling down on climate action now could avoid a climate catastrophe. The scorching heat in the northern hemisphere in recent months, raging wildfires, and deadly floods are a warning of what lies ahead, UN Secretary-General Ant³nio Guterres said. He recalled that the historic 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change saw world leaders pledge to keep temperature rise to the 1.5°C limit above pre-industrial levels, which scientists say is critical to avoiding the worst climate devastation.
According to Emirates News Agency, the world is failing to keep that promise, as revealed in the new report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). 'The fight for 1.5 degrees is the fight for humanity,' Guterres stated. 'We are set to breach the 1.5°C limit within the next few years.' UNEP chief Inger Andersen warned of no good outcomes if temperatures remain consistently above 1.5°C. 'Across the globe, extreme heatwaves are already proving that climate impacts will strike faster, hit harder, and last longer, costing more lives and causing deeper disruption,' she said.
The time to double down on climate action is now, Andersen stressed. By cutting greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening resilience and adaptation, and ensuring that exceedance of 1.5°C is as small and short as possible, the world can get on the right path. The UN chief agreed, emphasizing that every fraction of a degree will cost lives, destroy livelihoods, deepen inequality, and push ecosystems closer to irreversible damage. 'Humanity is speeding past the limit to avoid climate catastrophe,' Guterres warned.
However, Guterres highlighted that swift climate action can bring the world back from the brink. 'We can still bring warming back below 1.5°C by the end of the century,' he said. 'We must make the overshoot as small and short as possible, limiting how high temperatures rise and how long they remain above 1.5.' He concluded by stating that the science is clear, solutions are at hand, and the world has never been better equipped to deploy them. 'Now is the time to raise ambition and accelerate action,' Guterres urged.