Move away from fossil fuels, warns UN report

The world has to move quickly "if it's serious about limiting temperature increase, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change told ITV News today.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey told ITV New correspondent Lewis Vaughan Jones that the report shows a very real threat, but denied that Government hasn't done enough to move towards more sustainable energy.

Today's UN report on climate change is a "stark warning" about the need to reduce carbon emissions, Energy Secretary Ed Davey has told Sky News' Murnaghan programme.

The Liberal Democrat MP also said the decreasing cost of renewable energy meant decarbonising need not be overly expensive.

Read: UN report urges move away from fossil fuels

Massive cuts to global greenhouse gas emissions needed in the next few decades to avoid "dangerous" climate change, a major international report has warned.

It is still possible to keep global temperature rises to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century, the level at which it is thought dangerous impacts of climate change will be felt.

But substantial reductions in greenhouse gases will be needed, through large-scale changes to energy supplies and use, as well as curbing deforestation and planting forests.

Emissions need to be reduced by 40% to 70% on 2010 levels by the middle of the century and to near zero by 2100, to make it likely temperatures will not go above 2C, the report said.

More: UN report urges move away from fossil fuels

Environmental campaigners have reacted to leaked drafts of the latest UN report into climate change, saying they showed "catastrophic" climate change could only be avoided by reducing dependency on fossil fuels.

Friends of the Earth's executive director Andy Atkins said we are already on track for four degrees warming "which will be impossible for human society to adapt to".

Tim Ratcliffe from campaign group 350.org said that 80% of fossil fuels need to stay underground in order to avoid a climate catastrophe.

Campaigners have demanded the world moves away from using fossil fuels, ahead of a major international report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The latest report will set out ways to curb rising temperatures by tackling greenhouse gas emissions.

The third of a trilogy, the study comes just two weeks after the second part of the report warned that the effects of rising temperatures were already being felt across the world.

It said that without action climate change would increasingly threaten security, health and food supplies, exacerbate poverty and damage species and habitats.