Urgent economic, societal changes needed to avoid climate change disaster, UN warns ahead of global summit
- Inadequate measures could push global temperatures 2.4 to 2.6 degrees Celsius higher by the end of this century, UN Environment Programme says in a report
- The UNEP released the report ahead of next month’s global climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

Based on climate pledges made so far, the world is on track for a temperature rise of 2.4 to 2.6 degrees Celsius by the end of this century from pre-industrial levels, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which coordinates international responses to environmental issues, said in a report on Thursday. The report comes ahead of the global climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6 to 18.
The UNEP called on key emitting sectors – energy, manufacturing, transport, construction and agriculture – to avoid locking in new fossil fuel-intensive infrastructure, and to deploy practices to reduce emissions.
“This report tells us in cold scientific terms what nature has been telling us, all year, through deadly floods, storms and raging fires: we have to stop filling the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, and stop doing it fast,” said UNEP executive director Inger Andersen in a statement. “We had our chance to make incremental changes, but that time is over. Only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster.”
Human activities have already caused the planet’s average temperature to rise by 1.1 degrees since 1850. If global warming reaches 1.5 degrees in the “near term”, increases in multiple climate hazards posing risks to ecosystems and humans would be unavoidable, since some 3.3 billion people live in locations highly vulnerable to climate change, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in February.