Kerry: UN climate report ‘another canary in the coal mine’

Secretary of State John Kerry said that a new United Nations climate report is “another canary in the coal mine.”

{mosads}The U.N. report, released early Sunday, argues the earth is heading toward “severe, pervasive, and irreversible” impacts. The report finds that the evidence behind human influence on climate change is overwhelming and undeniable, as greenhouse gas emissions are the “highest in history.”

“Greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are higher than ever, and we’re seeing more and more extreme weather and climate events, whether it’s storm surges, devastating heat waves, and torrential rain, across the globe,” Kerry said in a statement released Sunday. “It’s not a coincidence. With this report, we have yet another round of authoritative, peer-reviewed science to prove it.”

“The bottom line is that our planet is warming due to human actions, the damage is already visible, and the challenge requires ambitious, decisive and immediate action,” he added.

The report argues that emissions must fall to a net zero by the end of the century, and that the window of opportunity to address the threat is shrinking.

“We can’t prevent a large scale disaster if we don’t heed this kind of hard science,” Kerry said. “The longer we are stuck in a debate over ideology and politics, the more the costs of inaction grow and grow. Those who choose to ignore or dispute the science so clearly laid out in this report do so at great risk for all of us and for our kids and grandkids.”