Climate impacts heading into ‘uncharted territories of destruction’ – UN chief

The report warns there is a huge gap between the pledges countries have made under the international Paris Agreement to curb global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and the action they are taking to deliver it.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said the report showed the world was “way off track”, with climate action stalling, a failure to help the vulnerable adapt to a changing world and losses from climate disasters of 200 million dollars a day. File. AP Photo/Khalil Hamra

Climate impacts are heading into “uncharted territories of destruction”, the head of the UN has warned, as a multi-agency report sets out the scale of the crisis.

The United In Science report, co-ordinated by the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), warns that “without ambitious action, the physical and socioeconomic impacts of climate change will be devastating”.