UN Climate Change Report 2021: Top 8 points from 'eye-opening' IPCC report

The UN's climate panel has published a new report delivering the starkest warning about the deepening climate emergency. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, global climate change is gaining momentum and human emissions of greenhouse gases are the cause. The report noted that there is still time to stop catastrophic warming this century, but only if nations across the globe immediately stop burning fossil fuels. Here are ten important takeaways.

UN Climate Change Report: Top 8 points from 'eye-opening' IPCC report

• The highly anticipated report provides new estimates of chances of crossing the global warming level of 1.5 degrees celsius or even 2 degrees Celsius "will be beyond reach" in the next two decades without urgent reductions in greenhouse emissions.
• The 1.5 degrees Celsius is an important global target because, beyond this, tipping points (irreversible change in the climate system) will be more more likely, the UN Climate report said.
• According to the report, if the climate rises at the rate of 2 degrees celsius, extreme heat would occur which will make agriculture difficult.
• The report mentioned that ice melt and sea levels are already speeding up. Wild weather events such as heatwaves and storms are also expected to worsen and become more frequent. Due to the greenhouse gases already discharged into the atmosphere by humans, some changes will be "irreversible" for centuries.
• Noting that we are running out of time, the IPCC report 2021 said that meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement goal that aims to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will need sticking to "carbon budget". The Climate budget is the number of greenhouse gases that can be emitted for a given level of global warming. 
• The IPCC sixth assessment report said that it is not just about temperature. Climate change will increase global heat. Some areas will witness intense rains and flooding while others will face severe drought. 
• The report noted that a "strong and sustained" deduction in carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases will benefit the environment as air quality will improve quickly while global temperatures could take 20 to 30 years to stabilize.
• While the UN Climate report shows a grim future, it called that catastrophic ice sheet breakdowns and the abrupt slowdown of currents are less likely to happen by they cannot be ruled out.