Climate change is hitting the planet faster than scientists originally thought

Latest IPCC climate report warns that rising greenhouse-gas emissions could soon outstrip the ability of many communities to adapt.

The negative impacts of climate change are mounting far faster than scientists predicted less than a decade ago, according to the latest report from a United Nations climate panel. Many impacts are unavoidable and will hit the world’s most vulnerable populations hardest, it warns — but collective action from governments to both curb greenhouse-gas emissions and to prepare communities to live with global warming could yet avert the worst outcomes.

“The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal,” says Maarten van Aalst, a climate scientist who heads the Red Cross Red Crescent’s Climate Centre in Enschede, the Netherlands, and an author on the report. “Any further delay in global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.”

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