Climate change 'hitting harder and sooner' than forecast, warn scientists ahead of UN meeting
(VOVWORLD) - A new report published ahead of key UN climate talks has warned the world is falling drastically behind in the race to avert climate disaster, with the last five-years through to 2019 being the hottest on record.
The data, compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), highlighted that global temperatures have risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius since 1850, and have gone up 0.2C between 2011 and 2015. The report "highlights the urgent need for the development of a clear plan of action to halt global warming and the worst effects of climate change," said its authors, the Science Advisory Group to the summit.
The 2015 Paris Agreement saw countries lay out national targets to reduce their emissions in order to limit long-term temperature rise by either 2 or 1.5 degrees Celsius.
These are benchmarks that will limit the impact of global warming on world weather systems. But even if all countries meet the goals they set themselves, the world will still warm by 2.9C to 3.4C, the report found. The current efforts would need to triple to meet the 2C goal and be increased five-fold to meet the 1.5C goal — all of this is technically within reach.