COP31 hears 1.5°C overshoot not an option for Pacific

Detailed summary

The President of the Marshall Islands says the global response to the threat of overshoot of the Paris Agreement's goal must be overwhelming or the world we know, is over.

The President of the Marshall Islands says the global response to the threat of overshoot of the Paris Agreement's goal must be overwhelming or the world we know, is over.

A new UN report says global warming beyond 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is now inevitable and the world must limit the "overshoot" as much as possibly before reversing it.

Pacific leaders are joining other world leaders in in Antalya, Türkiye for the COP31 climate summit.

The UN report acknowledges that the international community has made progress on climate change.

But it said global action to cut greenhouse gas emissions have not been fast enough to avoid global warming crossing 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in the next few years.

Marshall Islands President Dr Hilda Heine described to delegates at the UN climate summit what an overshoot means in the Pacific.

"We are watching eco-systems die, and we are feeling temperatures rise. Every fraction of a degree we warm brings a catastrophe," she said.

"Overshoot must be kept as small and short as possible and be rapidly reverse. We are fallen short of the emission reductions needed to stay under 1.5."

President Heine also told delegates that every new oil well drilled, every piece of coal extracted is a threat to her country's future.

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