UN panel to study tough 1.5 C limit on global warming

The U.N.'s panel of climatescientists agreed on Thursday to study how to limit globalwarming to the toughest target set by world leaders, saying evensmall rises in temperatures could be harmful.

The panel would look into ways to restrict the rise intemperatures to 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) abovepre-industrial times after a 195-nation summit in Paris agreedin December to try and phase out net greenhouse gas emissionsthis century.

Hoesung Lee, chair of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC) said there were "serious risks" with evenminor rises in temperatures from current levels, for instance tocoral reefs and to coasts from rising sea levels.

"There was not much scientific research on this topic" whenthe IPCC last issued a major overview of the risks of globalwarming in 2014, he told a webcast news conference from Nairobi.

The IPCC would issue the 1.5 C report in 2018 and two otherspecial climate reports in coming years, one on land,
desertification and food security and another on oceans and theworld's icy areas, he said.

The December 2015 summit asked the IPCC to come up with areport about 1.5 C, a level scientists reckon would demanddrastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions..

Last year, average global surface temperatures hit thehighest since records began in the 19th century, about 1 C abovepre-industrial times.

Lee said the IPCC would also issue an overall report aboutthe risks of climate change in 2022, in time for a scheduled
global review in 2023 of governments' plans for fighting climatechange.

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