World on track for an accelerating climate disaster, United Nations warns

A stark new United Nations assessment has warned that there is no “credible pathway” in place to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. The Emissions Gap report, which is produced by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), comes on the eve of major climate talks COP27 in Egypt. It found that the world is headed for 2.8°C of warming by the end of this century.

Despite intensifying climate impacts, the world is still falling short of the Paris climate goal, which seeks to limit global warming to well below 2°C, preferably 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels.

Only an “urgent system-wide transformation” can avoid an “accelerating climate disaster”, said the report, which analyses the gap between promises and action.