A report published Wednesday by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says global temperatures will almost certainly and unavoidably exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, after decades of climate action that fell short of what was needed.
According to the report, breaching the 1.5°C threshold — a level scientists regard as a critical limit for averting the most severe impacts of climate change — is now difficult to reverse. UNEP stressed that the situation reflects the cumulative result of decades of insufficient action.
The report calls on countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions urgently in order to limit the scale and duration of the overshoot. According to UNEP, limiting how long and by how much temperatures exceed the threshold matters greatly for reducing the risks and damage caused by climate change.
The message comes as global efforts to curb rising temperatures are still falling short of the progress needed to keep warming within the 1.5°C limit set as a goal.
