2017 is set to be one of the hottest years ever recorded, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said at climate conference COP23. Sea levels have risen further and ice in the Antarctic moved towards a record low.
2017 is likely going to be the hottest year on record after 2016 and 2015, which were both fueled by weather phenomenon El Nino and were unusually hot.
The average global temperature from January to September 2017 was about 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era.
This comes after key indicators for climate change have shown a trend for the worse, such as rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, rising sea levels and a record low in ice coverage in the Antarctic sea, WMO's report states.
"We have witnessed extraordinary weather, including temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius in Asia, record-breaking hurricanes in rapid succession in the Caribbean and Atlantic reaching as far as Ireland, devastating monsoon flooding affecting many millions of people and a relentless drought in East Africa," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
"This is part of a long-term warming trend," he added.
Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who chairs COP23, said this was the world's moment of truth, urging delegates to "lock arms with all other nations and move forward together."
"Millions of people around the world have suffered and continue to suffer from extreme weather events," said UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa. "We must act right here, right now."
Experts have repeatedly warned that time is running out.
"We can only stick to [a temperature increase of] 1.5 degrees Celsius at this point if there are drastic cuts in global emissions - and we have to be lucky," climate researcher Stefan Rahmstorf with Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) told DW.
He said curbing carbon dioxide emissions would be paramount since CO2 was the most dangerous greenhouse gas for Earth.
"CO2 accumulates in the atmosphere - it's like filling a bath tub with water," he said. "Other greenhouse gases like methane work differently. Methane's half-life in the atmosphere stands at eight years, so it will eventually disappear, once we bring emissions down to zero. But that isn't the case with CO2."
Many effects of global warming intensify the hotter it gets, but there are also certain thresholds that can make or break ecosystems, Rahmstorf explained.
"The question of whether we limit global warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius makes a difference in terms of whether corals can survive on our planet or whether they all die off," he said.
Two thirds of Australia's Great Barrier Reef have been damaged so severely that experts doubt they will ever recover.
UN's Espinosa urged COP23 to be the launching pad towards the "next, higher level of ambition" by all nations.
"If we keep emitting greenhouse gases the way we are doing now and allowing further increases as seen in the last decades, then we'll have a global temperature increase of 4 degrees Celsius by the end of this century," climate scientist Rahmstorf said. "It will be a very different planet compared to what we know now."
"And global warming won't stop there. In the next 100 years, it would continue to rise to 7, 8 degrees Celsius. I don't think human civilization would survive that."
Gero Rueter contributed to this report.
Kids4Climate: The Earth in 50 years
Our changing climate is already scary - and will worsen over the next half-century. While most of us might not be here in 50 years, today's children will. How do they imagine the planet we'll leave for them? In pictures.
Image: DW/I. Banos
A sinking world
Samuel is only 10 years old, but when it comes to describing how climate change will impact our planet, he has a clear answer: water will rise so much that people living near the sea will be begging for help to survive. But why does it happen? "Because of the extreme pollution," he says.
Image: DW/I. Banos
The last sunrise?
While Daniel (7) loves contemplating the sun, he wonders whether it will still be here in 50 years. He is hoping it only changes slightly, and that sunsets and sunrises will still be beautiful and colorful and will keep delighting adults and children. He's already urging his parents to recycle at home. After all, it's his future that's at stake.
Image: DW/I. Banos
Hold your breath
In a near future, flying cars will still be as polluting as cars nowadays, the sky will rarely look blue due to pollution, and humankind will completely forget the importance of nature - even the last of the trees will be removed. To top it off, droughts will be so bad in some places that ships will be stranded. And for that, Paloma (10) points out, we don't need to wait 50 years but only 15.
Image: DW/I. Banos
Escaping heat waves
Emma (7) has been traveling through southeast Asia in recent months and has loved the experience. But it was so hot! She learned from her mom that global temperatures are increasing every year. Therefore it's not surprising how she imagines the planet in the future: the sun will almost burn out and people will be forced to leave Earth – in rockets, of course.
Image: DW/I. Banos
A new home: Mars
Life on another planet is exactly what Linus (12) imagines - more concretely, on Mars. In 50 years, the Earth will be immersed in such chaos that we will have to look for a better place. But even there, we will not have learned the lesson and we will leave another trail of consumption and destruction. Not much hope for our near future, right, Linus? "Well, we can still stop it!"
Image: DW/I. Banos
Technology has the power
In place of nature, technology will dominate our daily lives, Yann (12) believes. But for him, this is not discouraging, since we will have the most advanced technologies and lots of flying objects. This is how our planet will look in 50 years: a futuristic cityscape filled with revolutionary machines.
Image: DW/I. Banos
Huge carbon 'handprint'
Astrid (6) has a very abstract idea about Earth. It's a place where river flows, air flows and people are simultaneously affected by the same threat: a gigantic carbon "handprint." Astrid has heard about it at school: the bigger the "handprint," the worse the impact for us all.
Image: DW/I. Banos
Let’s try to survive
Our young artists don't always want to give a clear interpretation for their pieces. In this case, Miguel (10) provides us with two main options: The robot represents destructive climate change. Here, our destiny is quite clear. On the other hand, it may just mean that artificial intelligence will get out of control and become more powerful than humans. In any case, it's our time to act!
Image: DW/I. Banos
Tragedy on Earth
At 7, Judith gets quite serious when talking about the future, and is convinced we might all be dead by 2067 - pets included. In half a century, almost no one will have survived planetary destruction: and aliens will get the chance to take over. Just in case, Judith already prefers to save precious resources. No more new sheets of paper for drawing unless she's first used the other side.
