The world is rapidly approaching catastrophic levels of heating with international climate goals set to slip out of reach unless immediate and radical action is taken.
This is according to a new UN-backed report released today.
In a statement to mark the launch of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's synthesis report, Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres said "the climate bomb is ticking".
"Humanity is on thin ice, and that ice is melting fast. As today's report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) details, humans are responsible for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years. The rate of temperature rise in the last half century is the highest in 2000 years," he warned.
He also called for an end to new fossil fuel exploration and for rich countries to quit coal, oil and gas by 2040.
Stepping up his pleas for action on fossil fuels, Mr. Guterres called for rich countries to accelerate their target for achieving net zero emissions to as early as 2040, and developing nations to aim for 2050 — about a decade earlier than most current targets.
The report draws on the findings of hundreds of scientists to provide a comprehensive assessment of how the climate crisis is unfolding.
The science is not new – the report pulls together what the IPCC has already set out in a cluster of other reports over the last few years – but it paints a stark picture of where the world is heading.
