We are sliding headlong into disaster!

The annual report on harmful emissions, released on Thursday, showed that unless governments act to reduce emissions, the world will face a rise in temperatures of up to 3.1 degrees above pre-industrial levels by 2100, reports Reuters.

It means that by the year 2100, the world's average surface temperature will have risen to no more than 1.5C (2.7F) warmer than pre-industrial levels.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the planet is at risk, stressing that world leaders will either solve this problem "or we will fall headlong into a climate catastrophe".

At present, governments are already planning to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels than would be compatible with a 1.5C pathway. The UN's latest Emissions Gap report states that the world is on track for 3C of warming by the end of the century.

Global greenhouse gas emissions rose by 1.3 percent between 2022 and 2023, to a new high of 57.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, the report said.

Under current policies, temperatures will continue to rise between 2.6 and 2.8 degrees by 2100, the report said.

Global temperatures are currently about 1.3 degrees higher than pre-industrial levels, the agency said, according to the BBC.

Is that scenario really realistic?

A UN emissions report shows the world could warm by 3.1C if "current policies" are implemented alone, and that would be "catastrophic" for the world as it would lead to a dramatic increase in extreme weather events, including heat waves and floods.

Working outside under that level of heating would be extremely difficult if not impossible. But, as the BBC goes on to state, that number is not strictly new and must be seen in context.

The UN's projections of rising temperatures have remained essentially the same in the three years since countries met in Glasgow at COP26.

The latest report says that if countries implement the pledges they have already made in their carbon reduction plans, temperatures will rise by 2.6 to 2.8 degrees Celsius. And if every country implements these plans and honors its existing net zero commitments, the emissions gap report says the rise could be contained to 1.9C.

These "cooler" scenarios are clearly far from guaranteed and let's be clear - even a 1.9C rise would be catastrophic. So far, we've warmed our planet by 1.1 degrees and we're feeling the effects on so many levels, not just the increase in extreme weather and rising sea levels, the BBC recalls.

Scientists understand that if the emissions curve does not bend by then, there will likely be an extremely challenging temperature rise of around or above 3C.

What else is new in the report?

There are a number of factors that are new and help increase emissions according to the UN.

The flying boom in 2023 led to a 19.5% increase in aviation carbon over 2022, as passenger travel returned to near pre-pandemic levels.

Road traffic emissions also rose, but there were other key factors, including the impact of climate change, rising temperatures that forced people to resort to more air conditioning.

"We are seeing, or starting to see, more severe impacts of climate change, so heat waves have increased the demand for energy to cool homes and offices," said United Nations Environment Programme UNEP's Dr Anne Olhoff.

"They have also affected hydropower production, which has declined. So, what do you do when it declines? You switch to more coal," she pointed out.

Another element is the transition to electricity for vehicles and heating – the increasing number of electric vehicles and heat pumps also increases the demand for electricity, which is often met by fossil fuel sources.