UN: Global Warming Likely to Exceed 1.5 Degrees Celsius Limit

Nairobi (ANTARA) - Global warming is likely to exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit established by the Paris Agreement within the next few years, according to a report released on Wednesday (2/9) by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Even in the most optimistic scenario, temperature increases will peak at 1.8 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the report states, while warning that increasingly severe extreme weather and the loss of ecosystems will threaten health, food security, infrastructure, and the economy.

“There are no good outcomes if we remain above 1.5 degrees Celsius,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. “Across the world, extreme heatwaves have already shown that the impacts of climate change will occur faster, strike more devastatingly, and last longer, resulting in more fatalities and causing increasingly severe disruptions.”

However, the report suggests that it is still possible to lower temperatures and achieve the global targets of the Paris Agreement through an “overshoot, peak and decline” pathway, where global temperatures temporarily exceed a certain limit, then reach a peak, and subsequently decline. This pathway would minimise the peak temperature increase through immediate and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.