As world leaders gather in New York City for the United Nations Climate Action Summit Monday, a UN report warns climate change is accelerating — with the Earth on track for the warmest 5-year period on record. From a report: “Climate change causes and impacts are increasing rather than slowing down. Sea level rise has accelerated and we are concerned that an abrupt decline in the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, which will exacerbate future rise. As we have seen this year with tragic effect in the Bahamas and Mozambique, sea level rise and intense tropical storms led to humanitarian and economic catastrophes,” said World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas in a statement.

Data compiled by the World Meteorological Organisation for the report, to be presented to the UN summit, shows the average global temperature for 2015-2019 is on course to be the warmest of any equivalent period on record. “It is currently estimated to be 1.1Celsius (+- 0.1C) [about 2F] above pre-industrial (1850-1900) times,” the UN said in a statement accompanying the “United in Science” report. To stop a global temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, countries must triple climate emission cut targets, the report warns.

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Source: Slashdot – Climate Change Causes and Impacts Are Increasing, UN Report Says