UN News Today 02 September 2026 |

Report warns world on track to overshoot global warming limit

Record heatwaves, deadly floods and other extreme weather are warning signs of an ever-warming planet, the UN said on Wednesday.

A new report from the UN Environment Programme, UNEP, says global temperatures are likely to exceed the 1.5°C limit – and even under an optimistic scenario, could peak at around 1.8°C – which could worsen impacts on food security, human health and ecosystems.

Secretary-General António Guterres said the world is “speeding past the limit to avoid climate catastrophe,” recalling the pledge made by countries under the 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

“Every fraction of a degree will cost lives, destroy livelihoods, deepen inequality and push ecosystems closer to irreversible damage.”

UNEP Director Inger Andersen warned that extreme heat is already striking faster, hitting harder and lasting longer.

But the UN says the worst impacts can still be limited.

Mr. Guterres said any period above the 1.5°C limit should be “as small and short as possible” by accelerating the phaseout of fossil fuels, expanding renewable energy, cutting methane emissions and protecting forests, land and oceans.

He added that the world must match a temperature overshoot with greater collective ambition.

Nepal floods leave 2.2 million tonnes of debris, UNDP says

Floods and mudflows along Nepal’s Bhote Koshi-Trishuli river system have left at least 2.2 million tonnes of debris, according to a preliminary assessment by the UN Development Programme, or UNDP.

The flooding, which was triggered by a glacier collapse last Wednesday, swept water, mud and rocks through communities in the affected districts along Nepal’s border with China.

Nepal has reported more than 1,000 deaths, and more than 4,000 people still missing. More than 10,000 people have been rescued.

The disaster has also damaged homes, roads and energy infrastructure, forcing 11 hydropower stations and a solar plant to stop operating. Preliminary modelling estimates about $158.6 million in potential building damage and at least 556,000 tonnes of building-related debris.

UNDP says around three in four affected people were already living in highly vulnerable areas, where livelihoods, access to basic services and living conditions were already under strain.

Government figures show more than 84,000 people have been affected across 17 municipalities.

Debris caused by the floods includes collapsed buildings, household belongings, vegetation, rocks and sediment. Rescue operations remain difficult and dangerous, and rescuers believe people are still trapped or missing beneath the mud and rubble.

Independent experts call on US to end alleged drug boat strikes

Independent UN human rights experts on Wednesday called on the United States to end what they described as “unlawful killings” following US military strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific.

The special rapporteurs, who are not UN employees and do not receive a salary for their work, say at least 223 people have been killed in strikes since September 2025.

The US military, they say, has struck at least 68 vessels in international waters, in most cases killing everyone on board.

The experts rejected the US Government’s justification for the attacks under international law, saying drug trafficking is a law enforcement matter and does not constitute an armed attack that would permit self defence.

They added there is no armed conflict that would allow alleged drug traffickers to be treated as combatants, making the killings “extrajudicial and unlawful.”

Under international law, the experts said, lethal force at sea may only be used when strictly necessary and proportionate to protect people from an imminent threat to life, which the US has not asserted in this case.

They called for all alleged violations to be independently investigated, with those responsible held accountable and victims’ families provided compensation and guarantees that strikes will end.

Isaiah Steinberg, UN News.