A major United Nations report has stated that humans are changing the climate in a way that is now so extreme that many of the repercussions are irreversible.
The report warns of mass flooding, fires, droughts and heatwaves as key temperature limits risk being broken in just 10 years.
The UN have called the report:
"A code red for humanity."
Despite the pessimism, the scientists also say that if we act fast then the worst effects of climate change can still be avoided.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said of the report:
"If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. But, as today's report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses. I count on government leaders and all stakeholders to ensure COP26 is a success."
The COP26 meeting will take place in Glasgow in November where world leaders are expected to gather and pledge to cut greenhouse gases and emissions.
The past five years have been Earth's hottest since records began in 1850 and scientists almost unanimously agree that human action, in particular the release of carbon emissions, is responsible for the changing climate.
Report author Prof Carolina Vera, told reporters:
"The report clearly shows that we are already living the consequences of climate change everywhere. But we will experience further and concurrent changes that increase with every additional beat of warming."
Prof Malte Meinshausen, an IPCC author from the University of Melbourne in Australia, also stated that many key tipping points are already being met. He said:
"We will hit one-and-a-half degrees in individual years much earlier. We already hit it in two months during the El Niño in 2016. The new report's best estimate is the middle of 2034, but the uncertainty is huge and ranges between now and never."
The report comes as multiple freak weather events have struck the Earth in the last two years, and as wildfires rage across California, Greece and Turkey. Events in the last few years that have put a focus on climate change include the Australian wildfires, the worst on record, the melting of the Siberian permafrost in Russia, and unprecedented heat in Canada, which saw hundreds die.
[h/t: BBC]
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