The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s first major
scientific assessment since 2014, released Monday, shows unequivocally
that global warming is unfolding more quickly than feared and that
humanity is almost entirely to blame.
Here is a rundown of some of its key findings from the IPCC Working
Group 1 report on physical science.
Earth’s average surface temperature is projected to hit 1.5 or 1.6 degrees
Celsius above preindustrial levels around 2030 in all five of the
greenhouse gas emissions scenarios — ranging from highly optimistic
to reckless — considered by the report. That’s a full decade earlier than
the IPCC predicted just three years ago.
