Scientists are sounding the alarm: the planet is on the brink of catastrophic global warming

Global temperature rise is set to cross 1.5°C, likely within the next few years, pushing climate risks and impacts to increasingly dangerous heights, but it is still possible to bring temperatures down and achieve global goals in the Paris Agreement, according to a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report.

The world will likely surpass 1.5C in the next few years, it says, and warming will peak at around 1.8C in the best-case scenario, or at roughly 2.6C under current policies.

Debra Roberts, a co-author of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report, said that We are at a really critical point. The level of ambition of countries will really determine whether overshoot lasts for decades or lasts for millennia.

Lowering the planet’s temperature will require quickly cutting greenhouse gas pollution from fossil fuels as well as drawing carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Experts warn that even with decreasing temperatures, some impacts, such as sea level rise, could become irreversible.

The report notes that community adaptation and emission reductions must go hand in hand, reinforcing each other. At the same time, climate scientist Richard Betts emphasized that carbon capture technologies are not a savior, and emissions reductions cannot be abandoned.