The Secretary-General welcomes the report of the Fifth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and is deeply concerned by its conclusions. The report clearly demonstrates that human influence on the climate system is now evident in most regions of the globe and it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.

Limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. The Secretary-General urges all countries to make every effort needed to reach a global legal climate agreement by 2015, and to take action swiftly in order to limit the effects of climate change.