Urgent action called for at climate change seminar

Experts said reducing emissions is an urgent task in mitigating climate change at a seminar held by the National Climate Center in Beijing on Monday.

Luo Yong, professor from the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University, said adaptation to climate change cannot replace reducing emissions as a way to deal with the fact the world will face more changes due to global warming.

"Climate change caused by human greenhouse gas emissions is causing threats to life, disruption of food production, destruction of nature and reduced economic growth," he said.

The loss and damage caused by climate change will increase rapidly as warming continues, in many cases with the risk humans and nature will not be able to adapt to them.

"If we still take action according to the current emission reduction commitments, global warming levels will continue to threaten food production, water supplies, human health, coastal settlements and national economies. Reducing emissions as soon as possible would be the only way to avoid these consequences," he said.

Zhai Panmao, researcher from the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, said that extreme heat events, heavy precipitation and droughts will intensify.

"With more warming of the global climate, some extreme events that have not been observed may also occur," he said.