The IPCC global warming report spares politicians the worst details | Bob Ward

The dangers if governments ignore efforts to limit warming to 1.5C are more grave than the summary makes out

A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirms the enormous wisdom that governments showed in Paris in December 2015, when they agreed to the goal of "pursuing efforts" to limit global warming to 1.5C.

The report's summary for policymakers paints a sobering picture of the potentially terrible impacts of allowing global mean surface temperature to rise by 2C compared with pre-industrial levels: more extreme weather, sea level rise and ocean acidification, with detrimental effects on wildlife, crops, water availability and human health.