ACT NOW TO SAVE PLANET

Failure to cut emissions will have consequences for 'thousands of years'

- BY DAN VEVERS Environment Reporter

HUMANITY must act now on greenhouse gases if we are to prevent climate damage lasting thousands of years, a landmark UN report has warned.

The five-year study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the body of the world's leading 200 climate scientists - said choices made this decade would impact on potential climate disaster.

They are calling for the world to slash emissions by 60 per cent by 2035 - by making rapid and deep cuts to fossil fuel use and pollution.

IPCC scientists insisted the "window is closing for climate action, with the planet teetering on the edge of a string of "tipping points" which would make catastrophic global warming irreversible.