U.N. Says Greenhouse Gases Are At Highest Point In 800,000 Years

“Science has spoken,” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said. “Time is not on our side.”

By
David Mack
by David Mack

BuzzFeed News Reporter

The United Nations’ top scientists have sounded the alarm over climate change yet again, warning that greenhouse gas levels are at their highest level in 800,000 years.

Scanpix Denmark / Reuters

In Copenhagen on Sunday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a "synthesis" report, a stark summary of its last three reports.

“Human influence on the climate system is clear,” the report reads, “and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history.”

“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia,” the report continues. “The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a stern warning while presenting the report: "Science has spoken. There is no ambiguity in the message. Leaders must act, time is not on our side.”

Scanpix Denmark / Reuters

Indeed, the IPCC notes that fast action in reducing emissions is needed in order to limit global warming to 2º Celsius (3.6º Fahrenheit) and keep climate change in check at manageable costs.

Inaction, the report warns, is likely to lead to water and food shortages, refugee crises, widespread flooding, "and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems."

"There is a myth that climate action will cost heavily," Ban told reporters, "but inaction will cost much more."

Lukchai Chaimongkon/iStockphoto

The report calls for the end of unrestricted use of fossil fuels by 2100, as well as most of the world’s electricity being produced from low-carbon sources by 2050.

The release of the report comes just a month before delegates meet in Lima, Peru, as part of efforts to develop a new global agreement on limiting carbon emissions.

Read the full report here.

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