The world's leading climate scientists have warned that there are only 12 years left for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5 Celsius if a catastrophic environmental breakdown is to be avoided, according to a report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

"There is extreme urgency on the countries given their pledges after the Paris Agreement, and so far the progress hasn't been good enough that we would move towards 1.5 or a two-degrees target. So there is clearly a need for a much higher ambition level to reach even a two-degree target," said Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Petteri Taalas.