Code Red for Entire Earth, Heatwave Ramps up

Earth's climate is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, according to a report released Monday that the United Nations calls a "code red for humanity," AP reported. "It's just guaranteed that it's going to get worse," said report co-author Linda Mearns, a senior climate scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research. "I don't see any area that is safe ... Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide."

But scientists also eased back a bit on the likelihood of the absolute worst climate catastrophes.

The authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which calls climate change clearly human-caused and "unequivocal," makes more precise and warmer forecasts for the 21st century than it did last time it was issued in 2013.

Each of five scenarios for the future, based on how much carbon emissions are cut, passes the more stringent of two thresholds set in the 2015 Paris climate agreement. World leaders agreed then to try to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century because problems mount quickly after that. The limit is only a few tenths of a degree hotter than now because the world has already warmed nearly 1.1 degrees Celsius in the past century and a half.

Under each scenario, the report said, the world will cross the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming mark in the 2030s, earlier than some past predictions. Warming has ramped up in recent years, data shows.

In three scenarios, the world will also likely exceed 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times — the other, less stringent Paris goal — with far worse heat waves, droughts and flood-inducing downpours "unless deep reductions in carbon...