The final installment in a landmark UN climate change report released overnight has a stark admission - It is now or never if the world is to stave off climate disaster.
After a contentious approval session where scientists and government officials went through the report line by line, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has now published its guidance on what the world can do to avoid an extremely dangerous future.
Even if all the policies to cut carbon that governments had put in place by the end of 2020 were fully implemented, the world will still warm by 3.2C this century.
It says greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 and then be halved this decade or the world will be hit by "unprecedented heatwaves, terrifying storms, and widespread water shortages."
New Zealand has some of the highest emissions in the world per capita, with methane and transport emissions largely to blame.
Dr Andy Reisinger, the Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel, spoke to Morning Report.
