The World Has Only 3 Years To Prevent Climate Disaster, Experts Warn

A group of global thinkers called Mission 2020, led by the Paris Agreement architect and former United Nations climate chief, Christiana Figueres, has issued an urgent call that the world must contain and put carbon dioxide emissions on a downward slope by 2020. According to the experts, only such a move can realistically cap global warming at well below the 2°C discussed for the Paris climate accord.

The experts have published a paper in the journal Nature to warn that the Earth might see irreversible and unsafe levels of temperature increase if greenhouse emissions do not decrease by 2020. The paper has asked energy policymakers to stop giving the green light to new coal-based power plants and other initiatives, as well as implement policies that will help the world make the transition to using renewable energy.

"There will always be those who hide their heads in the sand and ignore the global risks of climate change," the group has stated, as Time reported. "But there are many more of us committed to overcoming this inertia."

The panel of climate change thinkers also underlined that a majority of the action on climate change will take beyond national governments. The panel members also commended the commitment of individual city and municipal governments for taking their own action to contain the issue.

Incidentally, the paper by the group follows a report it had published in April that aimed at preventing temperatures from rising more than 2°C by 2100. Mission 2020 has indicated that the goal outlined in the Paris Agreement on climate change would become unachievable if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase or even flatline after 2020. The group of climate change thinkers has also asked global leaders to use the upcoming G20 summit in Hamburg to talk about preventive measures for addressing global warming and to continue their effort on implementing the Paris Agreement.