ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The United Nations on Wednesday called for new stringent emission cuts as global temperatures head towards breaching the 1.5 degrees celsius threshold by mid-century.

The threshold is part of the Paris agreement, an international treaty aimed at capping global temperatures to 1.5 degree celsius above pre-industrial levels to avoid severe climate impacts.

According to a UN report, the world is now on track to breach the threshold by mid-century, requiring more stringent measures to reduce emissions and return to the boundary by the year 2100.

It said the new tightened emission measures would lead to the “lowest possible” breach of the threshold at 1.7-1.8 degrees.

To do this, “emissions would have to be reduced by 18 percent by 2030, 45 percent by 2035 and 69 percent by 2040, all relative to 2025 levels,” the report said.

These measures still give the world a 50 percent chance at returning to normal levels by the end of the century.

“Overshoot is not surrender. We can still keep it as small and as short as possible – and bring temperatures back below 1.5 degrees by the end of the century,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a message on the report.

Current policies are taking the world towards 2.8 degrees above pre-industrial levels this century, according to the report, adding that it would continue to increase afterwards as well.

Inger Andersen, Head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), warned that “every additional fraction of a degree” increases risks of climate impacts like “deadly floods, heatwaves and wildfires that have plagued many nations this year.”

“So, we must pull out all the stops to minimize peak warming and return to 1.5°C by the end of the century,” Andersen said. “This is possible.”

In November 2025, the UN warned that 65 countries, including Iraq, are at risk of “extreme exposure to climate-related hazards” by 2040, adding that the countries host over 45 percent of the world’s displaced population.

Iraq ranks fifth among the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects of climate change, according to the UN, with over 100,000 people already displaced due to severe drought.