(CNN) Failure to act now on climate change will result in "catastrophic" consequences for the world, the leader of the United Nation's next climate talks has warned.
"I don't think there's any other word for it," Alok Sharma, the British minister in charge of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), told British newspaper The Observer , warning that the annual talks, which will take place in Glasgow, Scotland in November, would be among the last chances to limit global heating and save lives.
"This is going to be the starkest warning yet that human behavior is alarmingly accelerating global warming and this is why COP26 has to be the moment we get this right. We can't afford to wait two years, five years, 10 years -- this is the moment," he said.
Sharma's comments came one day before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is due to release its latest assessment, which has been years in the making and will likely provide the most conclusive look yet at the extent of human-made climate change.
Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves Firefighters battle a wildfire near Avila, Spain, on August 16. Hide Caption 1 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A helicopter drops water as a wildfire burns in the village of Navalmoral, Spain, on August 16. Hide Caption 2 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A man works to douse a fire in Montalto, Italy, on August 12. Hide Caption 3 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves Forest fires rage on the Greek island of Euboea on August 11. Hide Caption 4 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves This aerial photo shows a wildfire-affected area in Mugla, Turkey, on August 11. Hide Caption 5 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves Remains of an 18th-century Orthodox church are seen on August 10, after a fire on the Greek island of Evia. Hide Caption 6 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves Local youths and volunteers gather in a field and wait to support firefighters during a wildfire on August 9, close to the village of Kamatriades on the Greek island of Evia. Hide Caption 7 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves People sleep in a car near the beach in Pefki village as wildfires rage on the island of Evia on August 8. Hide Caption 8 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A resident reacts as a wildfire approaches her house in the Greek village of Gouves, on the island of Evia, on August 8. Hide Caption 9 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A house in Pefkofito, Greece, is destroyed on August 7. Hide Caption 10 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A firefighter washes his face in the Milas area of Mugla, Turkey, on August 7. Hide Caption 11 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves People are evacuated on a ferry as a wildfire burns in Limni, Greece, on August 6. Hide Caption 12 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A satellite photo shows smoke rising from fires on the island of Evia, Greece, on August 5. Hide Caption 13 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves Firefighters try to extinguish a wildfire near the town of Olympia, Greece, on August 5. Hide Caption 14 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves Residents react during a wildfire near Olympia on August 5. Hide Caption 15 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves The grounds of a burnt hotel are seen in Lalas village, near Olympia, on August 5. Hide Caption 16 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves People move belongings to safety as a forest fire rages in a wooded area north of Athens, Greece, on August 5. Hide Caption 17 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A wildfire approaches the Olympic Academy in Olympia, Greece, on August 4. Hide Caption 18 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves The remnants of a destroyed house are seen in the Varibobi area of northern Athens on August 4. Hide Caption 19 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves Onlookers view the smoke from the wildfires blanketing Athens' Acropolis on August 4. Hide Caption 20 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A charred area of Mugla, Turkey, after a forest fire on August 3. Hide Caption 21 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves Smoke and flames rise over the village of Limni on the Greek island of Evia. Hide Caption 22 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves Firefighters work as a house burns in the Adames area of northern Athens on August 3. Hide Caption 23 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A woman pours water over a baby's head at a fountain in Skopje, North Macedonia, as temperatures reached over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on August 2. Hide Caption 24 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A man leads sheep away from an advancing fire in Mugla, Turkey, on August 2. Hide Caption 25 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves People watch an advancing fire that rages around the Cokertme village near Bodrum, Turkey, on August 2. Hide Caption 26 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves Local residents watch as a Greek army helicopter collects water to tackle a wildfire near the village of Lambiri, Greece, on August 1. Hide Caption 27 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A handout photo from the Italian National Fire Brigade shows an aerial view of a fire in the Pineta Dannunziana reserve in Pescara, Italy, on August 1. Hide Caption 28 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A man surveys a fire at Le Capannine beach in the Sicilian town of Catania, Italy, on July 30. Hide Caption 29 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves Firefighters battle a massive wildfire that engulfed a Mediterranean resort region on Turkey's southern coast near the town of Manavgat on July 29. Hide Caption 30 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A firefighter talks to his colleague as they work to put out fires in Cuglieri, on the Italian island of Sardinia, on July 26. Hide Caption 31 of 32 Photos: Europe battles wildfires amid scorching heat waves A firefighting helicopter passes in front of a cloud of smoke from a forest fire near Spathovouni village, southwest of Athens, Greece, on July 23. Hide Caption 32 of 32 /* global CNN */'use strict';jQuery(document).ready(function () {var galleryAdSlide = new CNN.AdSlide('el__gallery', false, CNN.contentModel.singletonFile);});
The IPCC -- the global scientific authority on climate change -- warned in a landmark 2018 special report that the world only has until 2030 to drastically reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and prevent the planet from reaching the crucial threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
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The 1.5-degree marker has been identified as a key tipping point beyond which the risk of extreme drought, wildfires, floods and food shortages will increase dramatically. Floods are getting worse, and the number of people exposed is 10 times higher than previously thought, study finds The consequences of global warming was already clear, Sharma said: "You're seeing on a daily basis what is happening across the world. Last year was the hottest on record , the last decade the hottest decade on record." This week alone there have been severe fires in Greece, Turkey, Siberia and the United States , while once-in-a-century flooding has wreaked havoc parts of Europe and Asia in recent weeks. A summer of record-setting heat in southern Europe has set off devastating wildfires that have torn through forests, homes and destroyed vital infrastructure from Turkey to Spain. And this summer, devastating floods in Western Europe engulfed houses and streets, and claimed dozens of lives. "I don't think we're out of time but I think we're getting dangerously close to when we might be out of time. We will see [from the IPCC] a very, very clear warning that unless we act now, we will unfortunately be out of time," Sharma told The Observer. Many countries have pledged to become carbon neutral by the middle of the century and several of the world's biggest economies, including the US, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada, have overhauled their short-term emission cutting targets. However, the UN has warned that details on how they are planning to get there remain vague.