News.com.au 8 Feb 22, Courtney Gould   Australians may soon be unable to play sports outside if temperatures continue to rise, experts have warned.

It's just one of the grim scenarios coming out of the release of the latest cycle of reporting from the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The report, released in the shadow of major flooding across Queensland and NSW, said while actions to reduce climate risks had increased worldwide, they fell well short of what was required.

"Successful adaptation requires urgent, more ambitious and accelerated action and, at the same time, rapid and deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions," the report said.

But as action stalls, many species – including human beings – are reaching their limits in their ability to adapt to climate change.

Report co-author and IPCC vice chair Mark Howden said coral reefs were just one well-documented example.

However, he warned Australians could soon also be reaching their own physiological limits.

"Our bodies can cope with hot, hot temperatures outside up to a point," Professor Howden said.

"But then we can't do that without some sort of active cooling. If you get very high temperatures and humidity, you either have to pull back on your exercise or you overheat. 

........... ...... Professor Howden said a major concern was how emissions would track as the world bounced back from Covid.

But he conceded that while the government knew exactly what it needed to do, it was a matter of political will.

"Climate change is here. In Australia it's mostly negative, and it really matters to pretty much everything we value here in Australia," Professor Howden said.

"Listen to the people … 90 per cent of Australians want more action on climate change.

"If there was any other issue that had 90 per cent of people wanting more action on it, you'd have the politicians running for the policy development process immediately.

"Yet we don't see that … climate change should not be a political issue."

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