WORLD IS BURNING BUT IT'S NOT TOO LATE ΤΟ SAVE IT

Professor Skea believes not all is lost | But UN chief warns governments must do more

- DAN VEVERS

THE Scot at the helm of saving the planet from global warming has insisted humanity is "not powerless" in the climate fight.

Professor Jim Skea, newly elected head of the UN's top panel of climate scientists, said people still had "agency over their own future" but the right choices had to be made to slash emissions.

However, his optimistic remarks follow a terrifying warning by UN chief Antonio Guterres that "the era of global boiling has arrived" - as extreme temperatures and wildfires savage Europe this summer.

New Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chair Prof Skea admitted he'd been surprised by the speed of turbocharged climate change this year, with temperature records on land and in sea repeatedly smashed.

Now leading the global climate fight, the Dundee-born academic hit out at a lack of ambition from world governments since signing the 2015 Paris accord to curb emissions.

That agreement set a worldwide goal to restrict temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels - but Prof Skea warned "overshoot" of this target is now very likely.