What the UN climate report predicts for NYC

New York needs to cease using fossil fuels immediately and move toward renewable sources of energy in order to limit the inevitable impact of climate change, experts said in response to the latest United Nations climate change report.

The report’s predictions for low-lying coastal cities like New York City are grim: more deadly heat waves and sea level rise that could render parts of Lower Manhattan uninhabitable in this generation if no action is taken to limit global warming.

“You’re going to have to move faster – every city is going to have to move faster,” said Tim Kohler, an archaeology and evolutionary anthropology professor at Washington State University and one of the lead authors for the North American section of the report. “We’re putting greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and that has to stop or places like New York City are going to have huge problems.”

The assessment was released Monday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Representatives from 195 UN member countries met over the last two weeks to come to a consensus on how global warming is influencing nature, agriculture and human health. The report also gives lawmakers a roadmap on the potential and limits for humans to adapt to these changes.

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