A U.N. report released Tuesday found that the most devastating effects of climate change are now likely to occur if serious action is not taken around the world to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
The report from the U.N. Environment Program found that greenhouse gas emissions would need to fall by nearly 8 percent each year, a target currently not within reach, in order to keep the earth from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius.
At the current pace, temperatures are instead projected to rise by almost 4 degrees Celsius around the world, a shift that would have drastic effects on some wildlife as well as sea levels, potentially putting the earth and the U.S. in particular at risk for more devastating storms.
“Delays will … quickly put the 1.5C goal out of reach,” the report reads.
“Our collective failure to act early and hard on climate change means we now must deliver deep cuts to emissions,” added Inger Andersen, the program’s executive director, at a press conference on Tuesday according to The Washington Post.
The report’s publication comes a day after the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that sea levels were as much as 20 meters higher the last time carbon dioxide levels were this high in the earth’s atmosphere.
