Degrees of danger: What will the world look like if we miss our climate targets?

Time is running out. The scale of action we need to protect the climate is huge, it has to happen fast, and the plans on the table are falling short.

In 2015, almost all of the world’s nations agreed to limit the temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above preindustrial levels, and to aim for a limit of 1.5 C under the Paris Agreement.  So far, the actual commitments made to cut fossil fuel use and other measures to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere — if carried through — will only get us down to 2.7 C of warming, the UN has warned.