World ‘to heat up by 1.5C a decade earlier’
THE Earth is likely to warm by 1.5C up to a decade earlier than previously expected, a bombshell United Nations report will warn today.
Scientists had expected temperatures to rise by 1.5C above preindustrial levels between 2030 and 2052 but now believe it will happen between this year and 2040.
The 1.5C mark is considered to be the point where climate change becomes increasingly dangerous. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change committed countries to limiting warming to 1.5C but they have already risen by 1.2C.
Today’s report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was produced by 200 scientists from 60 countries. It is the first comprehensive assessment of the science of climate change since 2013 and offers the starkest warning yet about the speed and scale of warming. It comes as record heatwaves, wildfires and floods hit countries around the world.
An interim report published in 2018 said global warming was likely to reach 1.5C between 2030 and 2052. But the new IPCC forecasts will bring this window forward a decade to between 2021 and 2040, according to The Sunday Times. The document is predicted to trigger a ‘turning point’ in the run-up to the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow in November.
Cabinet minister Alok Sharma, who is Cop26 president, said countries must work harder to reduce emissions and ensure the threshold is not breached. He added: ‘This report will be a big wake-up call for countries to do even more. Glasgow will be about keeping 1.5C in reach.
‘It will genuinely be a decisive moment in history.’
The 2018 IPCC report warned that overshooting the 1.5C limit would mean more extreme weather, greater sea-level rises and damage to health, wildlife and crops. In Greece yesterday,
‘Climate change turning point’
ferries carried hundreds of tourists and residents to safety as wildfires raged on the island of Evia. More than 2,000 people have been evacuated from the island in the past week.
The inferno was among dozens in Greece after temperatures soared to 45C (113F).
Fire crews from London, Merseyside, Lancashire, Wales and the West Midlands flew to Athens at the weekend to help.