Global temperatures are likely to cross the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold within the next few years, intensifying extreme weather, ecosystem loss and the risks facing small island developing states and low-lying coastal cities, according to a new UN report released on Wednesday.
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The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report, titled Limiting Overshoot , stressed the need for immediate and sustained cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to limit the duration and magnitude of warming beyond the 1.5°C threshold.
“It is still possible to bring temperatures down and achieve global goals in the Paris Agreement,” the report said.
However, it also warned that above 1.5°C, climate risks and impacts would intensify with every additional fraction of a degree and each passing year. The expected consequences include more intense extreme weather, ecosystem loss and the submersion of small island developing states and low-lying coastal cities.
Guterres calls for ‘overshoot of ambition’
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said recent extreme weather events were a warning of what could lie ahead.
“This summer's scorching heat, raging wildfires and deadly floods are a warning of what lies ahead. We must make the overshoot above 1.5 degrees as small and short as possible. That demands an overshoot of ambition,” Guterres said.
