Commission seizes on climate science report

The European Commission has embraced a report by the UN’s climate change body that calls for “unprecedented changes” to limit global warming.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which assesses climate change science, published a report on 8 October which said that “unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” are needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial era temperatures. 

It warned that a failure to meet this target would lead to higher sea level rises, reduced Arctic ice and the loss of almost all of the world’s coral reefs. Commitments made by governments across the world at a landmark global meeting in Paris in 2015 will not be enough to meet the target, it stressed.