UN climate science chief: it's not too late to avoid dangerous temperature rise

Hoesung Lee, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, voices hope in battle against 2C increase in warming but warns of 'phenomenal' costs

The head of the United Nations climate science panel has declared it is still possible to avoid a dangerous 2C increase in global warming - despite more than a dozen record hot years since 2000. But the costs could be "phenomenal", he said.

In an interview with the Guardian, Hoesung Lee, the leader of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), defied the bleak outlook of climate scientists who warn the world is hurtling to a 2C rise far faster than anticipated.