U.N. Releases “Code Red for Humanity” on Climate Change

Climate change is changing planet Earth in an “unprecedented” manner in thousands of years, according to a blistering report released by the United Nations. Some changes are irreversible for centuries to millennia, such as warming oceans and rising sea levels. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called the findings a “code red for humanity,” adding that the evidence is irrefutable.

This is the most comprehensive report of U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2013 and provides the strongest case yet for human-caused global warming. The report also found that climate change is intensifying, occurring at an accelerated pace and is already affecting every region of the planet. According to the report, greenhouse gas emissions from human activities have caused global warming at a rate not seen in at least the past 2,000 years. It’s estimated that human-caused climate change is responsible for approximately 1.1 degrees Celsius of warming since 1850-1900, the earliest period with reliable measurements of global surface temperatures.

According to a statement for NBC News of Ko Barrett, senior climate adviser at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the good news is that, that these irreversible changes can be slowed down with rapid, strong and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.