U.N. report: 'Irreversible' global warming may be on the horizon
Soaring greenhouse gas emissions may be rising so swiftly that there will be no stopping their impact on global climate change, according to an early draft of a forthcoming United Nations report.
The report combines and reiterates the stark findings of three previous U.N. studies, namely that humans are almost certainly causing climate change, and that the effects could be imminent and disastrous. But the report uses "blunter, more forceful language" than its predecessors, according to The New York Times, which obtained a leaked copy.
Humans are "extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century," the report says. "The risk of abrupt and irreversible change increases as the magnitude of the warming increases."
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The U.N. sent the report to member nations for review on Monday, and a final draft is expected to be released in November.
