Major Report Warns Climate Change Is Accelerating And Humans Must Cut Emissions Now

People evacuate from from a wildfire north of Athens, Greece on Friday. A climate-driven heat wave helped create conditions for the fire to burn out of control. Scientists warn that humans are running out of time to curb greenhouse gas emissions and avoid catastrophic global warming.

Thodoris Nikolaou / AP

Global climate change is accelerating and human emissions of greenhouse gases are the overwhelming cause, according to a landmark report released Monday by the United Nations. There is still time to avoid catastrophic warming this century, but only if countries around the world stop burning fossil fuels as quickly as possible, the authors warn.

The message to world leaders is more dire, and more unequivocal, than ever before.

“It is indisputable that human activities are causing climate change,” says Ko Barrett, the vice-chair of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the senior adviser for climate at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Each of the last four decades has been the warmest on record since pre-industrial times.”