The Commission’s latest report said the world will likely exceed the target to keep temperature rises within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

“It depends on what we do,” said Pascal Lamy, the former chief of the World Trade Organization (WTO), who currently leads the Commission.

To prevent it, the authors have called on governments to act now by phasing out fossil fuels, preparing for extreme weather events and fostering carbon capture and storage projects. 

The report also warned against controversial technologies such as geoengineering – large-scale interventions on the Earth’s climate systems with the aim of counteracting climate change. This term includes a wide variety of proposals, from regrowing trees to placing mirrors in space or seeding clouds to reflect sunlight.

The authors of the report believe governments should impose a temporary ban on these technologies until they can be reviewed by experts. At the moment, there is no global agreement...