Associated Press: U.N.: ‘Quick wins’ needed to keep climate goals within reach
“Countries have procrastinated for too long and need to begin making steep cuts to their greenhouse gas emissions immediately, or risk missing agreed targets for limiting global warming, top United Nations officials said Tuesday. The appeal by Inger Andersen, who heads the U.N. Environment Program, and others came days before governments gather in Madrid for an annual climate change meeting. ‘We need quick wins to reduce emissions as much as possible in 2020,’ Andersen said, as her agency published its annual ’emissions gap’ report showing the amount of planet-heating gases being pumped into the atmosphere hitting a new high last year, despite a near-global pledge to reduce them…” (Keaten et al., 11/26).

Washington Post: In bleak report, U.N. says drastic action is only way to avoid worst effects of climate change
“…Tuesday’s U.N. report offers a grim assessment of how off-track the world remains. Global temperatures are on pace to rise as much as 3.9 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, according to the United Nations’ annual ’emissions gap’ report, which assesses the difference between the world’s current path and the changes needed to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord…” (Dennis, 11/26).

Additional coverage of the report and reaction is available from CNN, The Guardian, TIME, and U.N. News.