Climate test

The world is moving toward climate conditions that governments have spent years trying to avoid. A new U.N. Environment Programme report warns that the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming threshold will likely be breached within the next few years.

That breach would not mean climate action has failed, nor that the target has lost its importance. UNEP says the priority must be to keep any overshoot as small and short-lived as possible. Every fraction of additional warming raises the danger of extreme weather, ecosystem losses and irreversible tipping points.

The outlook is made more worrying by a warning from the World Meteorological Organization that El Niño is strengthening in the Pacific and could become the strongest in four decades. That could intensify heat, drought and floods around the world.

For Pakistan, the consequences could include greater water stress, food insecurity and pressure on urban infrastructure and services. Flooding in Nepal and China has already shown how quickly climate hazards can devastate lives. As warming intensifies, Pakistan will increasingly face several climate pressures at the same time.