World on pace for significantly more warming without immediate climate action, report warns

The world is on a path to get 1.8 degrees Celsius (3.2 Fahrenheit) warmer than it is now, a United Nations report said Thursday. But if countries do everything they’ve promised to fight climate change, they could knock half a degree off that future warming. Still, that’s a far cry from limiting warming to 1.5 degrees (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times that countries agreed to in 2015. Instead the world is on pace to hit 3.1 degrees Celsius (5.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming. The report authors warned that major cuts to the burning of coal, oil and gas are needed now if there’s any hope of keeping the 1.5 goal alive. The world is on a path to get 1.8 degrees Celsius (3.2 Fahrenheit) warmer than it is now, a United Nations report said Thursday. But if countries do everything they’ve promised to fight climate change, they could knock half a degree off that future warming. Still, that’s a far cry from limiting warming to 1.5 degrees (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times that countries agreed to in 2015. Instead the world is on pace to hit 3.1 degrees Celsius (5.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming. The report authors warned that major cuts to the burning of coal, oil and gas are needed now if there’s any hope of keeping the 1.5 goal alive.  AP Technology and Science