The latest IPCC report argues that stabilising the climate will require fast action

THE WINDOW to prevent global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial averages is rapidly closing. Decisions made this year could determine whether that target is met or whether the world overshoots it by the middle of this century and has to deal with severe climate extremes before attempting to turn the thermostat back down in the second half of the century.

These are the warnings delivered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the third volume of its latest assessment report, published on April 4th. It follows earlier tomes, published in recent months, that first laid out the current state of knowledge on the physical science of climate change and then examined the impacts of warming on the human and natural worlds.