The U.N.’s ‘Final Warning’ about Climate Change Won’t Be the Last

The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released an assessment report eight years in the making on Monday, and one climate scientist billed it as the “final warning” that catastrophic climate change is imminent.

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres was no less apocalyptic. Deeming the IPCC’s report a “clarion call” and a “survival guide for humanity,” Guterres asked “every country and every sector” to “fast-track climate efforts” on “every timeframe.” (By “every timeframe,” we can assume he didn’t mean the slow ones.) “If we act now,” Guterres allowed, “we can still secure a livable, sustainable future for all.” But it doesn’t require an especially close reading of the IPCC’s findings to conclude that its authors believe saving “humanity” is now a remote prospect.