Current policies will bring ‘catastrophic’ climate breakdown, warn former UN leaders

Three former UN climate heads say gap between government promises and actions will change environment irreversibly

The policies currently in place to tackle the climate crisis around the world will lead to catastrophic" climate breakdown, as governments have failed to take the actions needed to fulfil their promises, three former UN climate leaders have warned.

There is a stark gap between what governments have promised to do to protect the climate, and the measures and policies needed to achieve the targets. At the Cop26 summit last November, countries agreed to bring forward plans to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels - the limit of safety, according to scientists. They have so far submitted pledges that would limit temperatures to under 2C.

This article was amended on 2 June 2022 to correct a conversion from celsius to fahrenheit.