US President Joe Biden has sounded the alarm on climate change following the release of a bombshell United Nations report dubbed a 'a code red for humanity.'
'We can't wait to tackle the climate crisis. The signs are unmistakable. The science is undeniable. And the cost of inaction keeps mounting,' Biden said in a statement Monday, as he urged the US and world nations to swiftly limit greenhouses gasses.
The Earth is likely to warm by 2.7F within the next 20 years — a decade earlier than previously expected — and heatwaves, flooding and droughts will become more frequent and intense, according to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment.
On Monday, 234 experts warned in the report that the US is headed for disaster. Flooding, deadly fires and heat waves will not only become the norm but will intensify in a warming world, warns the 3,949-page assessment.
Humans have already heated the planet by roughly 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1C), since the 19th century, largely by burning coal, oil and gas for energy – with the US being one of the world's top producers.
Scientists had expected temperatures to rise by 2.7F (1.5C) above pre-industrial levels between 2030 and 2052 but now believe it will happen between this year and 2040.
The consequences are already ripping across the nation: This summer alone, blistering heat waves have killed more than 3,000 American and wildfires have cost at least $8 billion, while flooding has caused nearly $75 billion in damages in the past 30 years.
California is currently being scorched by its second worst wildfire on record, the Dixie Fire. The fire, which is just 21 percent contained, has destroyed 404 buildings, plus 185 minor structures and damaged 38 additional structures - altogether it has burned around 463,477.
Linda Mearns, a senior climate scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research and co-author of the report, said in a statement: 'It's just guaranteed that it's going to get worse. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.'
If temperatures continue to rise, there could be devastating effects here on Earth, including a dramatic loss of sea-life, an ice-free Arctic and more regular 'extreme' weather
On Monday, 234 experts warned in the report that the US is headed for disaster. Flooding, deadly fires and heat waves will not only become the norm but will intensify in a warming world, warns the 3,949-page assessment
The consequences are already ripping across the nation: This summer alone, blistering heat waves have killed more than 3,000 American and wildfires have cost at least $8 billion, while flooding has caused nearly $75 billion in damages in the past 30 years. Pictured are fires currently blazing in California
Flooding, deadly fires and heat waves will not only become the norm but will intensify in a warming world, warns the 3,949-page assessment
The 2.7F (1.5C) mark is considered to be the point where climate change becomes increasingly dangerous.
The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change committed countries to limiting warming to 2.7F (1.5C) but they have already risen by 2.2F (1.2C).
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the new report a 'code red for humanity'.
He warned: 'The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk.'
These graphs show how human influence has warmed the climate at a rate unprecedented in at least the last 2,000 years
The UN scientists modelled the changes in annual mean temperatures worldwide based on 2.7F (1.5C), 3.6F (2C) and 7.2F (4C) global warming
The projected changes in extremes are larger in frequency and intensity with every additional increment of global warming
The key findings of the report are:
· Humans are very likely the main driver of the global retreat of glaciers, decline in sea ice, warming oceans and rising sea levels
· It is 'virtually certain' that heatwaves 'have become more frequent and more intense across most land regions'
· A rise in sea levels approaching 6 feet by the end of this century 'cannot be ruled out'
· The Arctic is likely to be 'practically sea ice-free' in September at least once before 2050
· Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are higher than they have been for three million years Some changes, such as sea level rises, will be 'irreversible' for hundreds to thousands of years
Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of State, said in a statement: 'Today, the United States joined nearly 200 IPCC member governments in approving the Working Group I contribution to the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report.
'The report finds we are already edging closer to a 1.5 degrees Celsius [2.7F] warmer world, and every day emissions rise the prospects for averting the worst impacts of climate change become dimmer. This is why it is essential that all countries – in particular the major economies –do their part during this critical decade of the 2020s to put the world on a trajectory to keep a 1.5 degrees Celsius [2.7F] limit on warming within reach.
'This is why the United States has committed to a 50-52 percent reduction in emissions from 2005 levels in 2030 and is marshaling the entire federal government to tackle the climate crisis. We cannot delay ambitious climate action any longer.'
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