New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities

The latest report from the UN Environment Program, argues that even if the international community enacts every climate policy proposed at this point – an optimistic scenario that includes “U.S. cuts that would reduce domestic emissions 73 percent from 2005 levels by 2050, along with the European Union’s pledge to reduce its emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050″ – global temperatures will rise 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century. That’s nearly twice the temperature increase that scientists predict will spell irreversible climate chaos.