Running out of time: UN report shows Earth on catastrophic path

Scientists have been increasingly vocal and specific about what will happen if the global temperature continues to rise

The secretary-general of the United Nations on Friday excoriated members for choosing a “catastrophic pathway” on climate change that is leading to a “massive loss of lives and livelihoods.”
 

Antonio Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister who’s led the UN since 2017, responded to new estimates showing just how far behind countries are in fighting climate change. The UN report estimates how much the world will warm if nations implement their stated commitments under the Paris Agreement signed in 2015.

The dire course that Guterres described would take the world to a 2.7-degree Celsius rise in average temperatures by the century’s