‘Nowhere to run’, says UN on global warming

Geneva, August 9

The Earth is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, according to a report released on Monday that the UN called a “code red for humanity.”

Report co-author Linda Mearns said: “It’s guaranteed that it’s going to get worse. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.” But scientists eased back a bit on the likelihood of the absolute worst climate catastrophes.

The authoritative Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which calls climate change human-caused and “unequivocal,” makes more precise and warmer forecasts for the 21st century than it did last time in 2013. The report says the world will cross the 1.5 degree Celsius warming mark in the 2030s, earlier than some past predictions. “But we can avoid further levels of warming by acting on greenhouse gas emissions,” said report co-chair Valerie Masson-Delmotte.

The 3,000 plus-page report from 234 scientists says warming is accelerating sea level rise and worsening extremes such as heat waves, droughts, floods and storms. Tropical cyclones are getting stronger, the Arctic sea ice is dwindling and permafrost is thawing.

“Scientists have issued this message for more than three decades, but the world hasn’t listened,” said United Nations Environment Program Executive Director Inger Andersen. For the first time, the report offers an interactive atlas for people to see what has happened and may happen to where they live. — AP