Scientists defend UN overshoot report after Saudi-led push to sideline it at COP31

Scientists behind a landmark UN report on overshooting the 1.5C warming limit have defended its credibility, after Saudi Arabia and other large developing countries questioned its scientific legitimacy and sought to keep it out of the main political decision expected from COP31.

The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Limiting Overshoot report, published in September, examines how to minimise an almost certain breach of the Paris Agreement’s temperature goal, what crossing it will mean for people and ecosystems and how temperatures could be brought back down.