What is global warming and how is it caused?
zero by 2050 include ending the burning of fossil fuels to generate power and outlawing gas boilers, used to heat homes, and replacing them with ecofriendly alternatives.
Petrol and diesel cars would also be replaced with electric models. Scientists also said protecting and restoring forests is key to cutting emissions.
Following recent devastating hurricanes, record droughts and forest fires, the IPCC makes clear climate change is already happening. In 2015, 200 nations, including the UK, signed the Paris Agreement, which set out, for the first time in history, a pledge to tackle climate change.
But since then Donald Trump has promised to withdraw the US – the world’s biggest source of emissions – from the accord. And the first round of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday put Jair Bolsonaro into a strong position to carry out his threat to do the same and open up the Amazon to agribusiness. AS the planet hots up weather will become more extreme and unpredictable – leading to food shortages, droughts, floods and other global disasters.
Over the past 150 years, industrialised countries have been burning large amounts of fossil fuels such as oil and gas.
The gases released into the atmosphere during this process act like an invisible blanket, trapping heat from the sun and warming the Earth – known as the “Greenhouse Effect”. Deforestation, seen in vast parts of the Amazon, has also contributed as trees absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the atmosphere. Johan Rockström, co-author of the Hothouse Earth report, said: “Climate change is occurring earlier and more rapidly than expected. Even at the current level of 1C warming, it is painful.
“This UN report is really important. It shows 1.5C is not just a political concession. There is a growing recognition that 2C is dangerous.” WARNING SIGN