U.N. climate report shows global temperatures rising too fast
The temperatures will increase risk and impacts worldwide, but it's still possible to bring temperatures down to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the report from the United Nations Environment Programme said.
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Flames engulf a road as a wildfire spreads in Lege-Cap-Ferret, southwestern France, in late July. (Photo Credit: Damien Rembert/EPA)
Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Global temperature rise is set to push past 1.5 degrees Celcius, or 34.7 degrees Fahrenheit, over pre-industrial temperatures within the next few years, according to a new United Nations report.
The temperatures will increase risk and impacts worldwide, but it's still possible to bring temperatures down to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the report from the United Nations Environment Programme said.
The report, Limiting Overshoot: Navigating Exceedance of 1.5°C and Pathways Towards Return, gives an "overshoot, peak and decline" path as the best option to reduce the overshoot and return to below the 34.7 degree target.
Multiple wildfires burned across France as hot, dry conditions fueled dangerous fire weather during a prolonged heatwave. Video shows firefighters and residents battling flames as crews worked to contain blazes in several parts of the country.
"This summer's scorching heat, raging wildfires and deadly floods are a warning of what lies ahead," said U.N. Secretary-General Antőnio Guterres in a statement. "We must make the overshoot above 1.5 degrees [34.7 F] as small and short as possible. That demands an overshoot of ambition."
Following the U.N. path would include immediate, sustained cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, and bringing down temperatures through long-term net-negative emissions with fully governed Carbon Dioxide Removal.
CDR is removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by various methods, including direct air capture coupled to durable storage, soil carbon sequestration, biomass carbon removal and storage, enhanced mineralization, ocean-based CDR, and afforestation/reforestation, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's website.
The U.N. report stresses this pathway would reduce risks and impacts, make adaptation less difficult and expensive, and increase the chances of lowering temperatures.
"There are no good outcomes if we remain above 1.5 degrees Celsius. 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," said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP, in a statement. "Now is the time we must double down on climate action. We can -- and must -- get on the right path."
"The recent energy crisis has reminded the world of the need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, accelerate the transition to renewable energy and bolster climate cooperation," said Chris Bowen, Australian minister for climate change and energy, and president of negotiations for COP31, the climate summit happening in November in Antalya, Turkey.
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