The UN's International Panel on Climate Change's Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius, released on Monday, is a major advance over previous efforts to alert world leaders and citizens to the growing climate risk.

Is It A Big Deal?

The scientists said the report was meant to guide more than just governments, however, and that action by everyone - including individuals and businesses - would be required to hold the line on climate change.

The report is seen as the main scientific guide for government policymakers on how to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the rise in global average temperatures to "well below" 2C above pre-industrial levels, while seeking to tighten the goal to 1.5C.

Climate economist William Nordhaus has been made a Nobel laureate.

"The next few years are probably the most important in human history", Debra Roberts, head of the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department in Durban, South Africa, and an IPCC co-chair, told AFP news agency.

How Can Cuts Be Achieved?

Overall, the Earth has to reduce the amount of Carbon dioxide produced each year by 45 per cent by 2030 - and reduce Carbon dioxide production to zero by 2050.

This means no more Carbon dioxide should be put out than is being removed by current measures, such as planting trees.

Meeting the 1.5C limit would demand "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented change in all aspects of society", the panel said.

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Around 6 percent of insects, 8 percent of plants, and 4 percent of vertebrates are projected to be negatively affected by global warming of 1.5°C, namely by shrinking their natural geographic range, compared with 18 percent of insects, 16 percent of plants and 8 percent of vertebrates for global warming of 2°C.

After the report's publication there were headlines like: "We have 12 years to act on climate change before the world as we know it is lost". "Climate change is already affecting people, livelihood and ecosystems all around the world". Global sea levels rose 17cm in the 20th century.

Key points in the report include maintaining the current global temperature at 1.5ºC.

"There were doubts if we would be able to differentiate impacts set at 1.5°C and that came so clearly". Coral reefs, which risk decline by more than 99% at 2C, would reduce by 70 to 90%. Anyone living in New York City can testify to the extreme summer heat and freaky lack of fall weather despite it being nearly two weeks into October, but that's minor in comparison to the real catastrophes-hurricanes, massive flooding, wildfires, and more.

Johnny Chan Chung-leung, director of City University's Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre, said laws - rather than targets - that mandated a certain ratio of renewables in the power mix by a certain date were also necessary.

What Has Been The Reaction So Far?

Stephanie Pfeifer, chief executive of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) which represents investors with trillions of pounds of assets under management, said the report showed limiting global warming to 1.5C is what was needed. We can't find any historical analogies for it.

Ultimately, Donner said, Canada will need to shift its resource-based industries to the industries of the future. Even that more modest goal is out of reach for now despite plans such as the controversial national carbon price, making buildings more energy efficient and eliminating coal as a source of electricity by 2030. 'While it's technically possible, it's extremely improbable, absent a real sea change in the way we evaluate risk.

By 2050, emissions of other heat-trapping greenhouse gasses, including methane and black carbon, should be reduced by 35%, relative to the 2010 rate.