UN report says global warming will surpass the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius

Climate scientists now aim to minimize time spent above the limit from the Paris Agreement.

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The United Nations Environment Program has released a report with grim news about the planet's rising temperatures. The group's climate scientists have determined that global temperatures will rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Rather than outlining how to remain below that increase, the new Limiting Overshoot report lays out paths toward minimizing the amount of time the planet spends above that critical temperature.

The "overshoot, peak and decline" strategy would require nations to meet their goals of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions as well as removing large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide removal is an additive action rather than a replacement for net-zero goals in the current situation. But according to the experts, even a short amount of time spent at higher temperatures could result in catastrophic consequences that will be more and more difficult to recover from.

"There are no good outcomes if we remain above 1.5°C. Across the globe, extreme heatwaves are already proving that climate impacts will strike faster, hit harder, and last longer – costing more lives and causing deeper disruption," UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said. "Now is the time we must double down on climate action. We can — and must — get on the right path. By cutting greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening resilience and adaptation, and ensuring exceedance of 1.5°C is as small and short as possible."

It's a shift in messaging from the organization, which has been pushing for countries to keep under that 1.5 degree increase from the Earth's pre-industrial temperature. That was the threshold set by the Paris Agreement. But the changing strategy also reflects how far short we currently are in making the changes necessary to prevent rising temperatures. Both the US and the EU governments loosened their restrictions on greenhouse emissions this year.