2015 world temperatures ‘to hit 1C above pre-industrial levels’

“Climate change hits the poorest the hardest, and our challenge now is to protect tens of millions of people from falling into extreme poverty because of a changing climate”.

She was also set to have a number of one-on-one meetings, includ-ing with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to attend the conference.

“Climate change is an additional threat to our objective of ending poverty”, said Stéphane Hallegatte, a senior economist with the World Bank’s Climate Change Group and co-author of the report. “This would have catastrophic consequences because there would be drought… and colossal migration problems, including problems of war and peace”.

The second image shows the same location, but under a 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, warming scenario, which corresponds to the temperature target world leaders agreed to in 2010.

Global temperatures in 2015 are set to reach one degree centigrade above pre-industrial levels for the first time, scientists have warned.

A few 45 million people in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin will be displaced as the cities slip under the waves when global temperatures rise 4 degrees Celsius if nothing is done to curb climate change, according to a study released on Monday.

Food prices in Africa for example could increase by as much as 12% in 2030 and 70% by 2080 as a result of climate change – which the report describes as a “crippling blow” to those nations where food consumption of the poorest households amounts to over 60% of total spending.

“Combining rapid, inclusive and climate informed development with targeted interventions and stronger safety nets would largely reduce the short-term threat from climate change – and, fortunately, developing countries have a window of opportunity to go in that direction before most of the climate change impacts materialize”, it says.

Ministers will base their discussions in the coming days on a rough draft of a deal compiled by rank-and-file diplomats over years of tough negotiations in the United Nations climate forum.

One key issue to be discussed is how rich countries can provide financial and other support to help developing countries reduce emissions.

But the report also warned that action on climate change can do little to reduce global warming between now and 2030, and urged policies to cushion the worst of the effects.

In its annual report on Earth-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the World Meteorological Organization said concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide once again broke records previous year.

But industrialised countries point out that emerging giants China and India are now leading polluters.