World is on crash course to 2.5C warming, UN warns ahead of Cop27

‘This is a sobering moment and we are in a race against time’

Girls collect coal from a mine in Dhanbad, India, in 2019 (Getty Images)

With days to go until the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt, the UN has published a damning review of current global climate commitments and called for more ambitious action to halt “the devastating consequences of runaway climate change”.

Unless national governments significantly strengthen their plans and put them into action immediately, we remain on course for around 2.5C of warming, the UN said.

The review is based on the combined climate pledges of 193 countries, but the UN said that ahead of the organisation’s Cop27 climate summit in Sharm El-Sheikh next month, just 24 countries have submitted new or revised targets – known as “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs).