article_snippet.sent: The world needs to prepare The world for a rapid increase in the speed of climate change, scientists have warned.
article_snippet.sent: Researchers have found evidence that suggests the rate at which temperatures are rising in the northern hemisphere could be 0.25°C per decade by 2020 - a level not seen for at least 1,000 years.
article_snippet.sent: The analysis, based on a combination of data from more than two dozen climate simulation models from around The world, looked at the rate of change in 40-year long time spans.
article_snippet.sent: Over the 900 years preceding the 20th century, 40-year warming trends rarely showed an average rate much higher than 0.1°C per decade, New study found.
article_snippet.sent: But by 2020 the rate was expected to have risen to an average of 0.25°C per decade, give or take 0.05°C.
article_snippet.sent: Different scenarios of future emissions showed that even at the lower end of greenhouse gas generation climate change picked up speed in the next 40 years.
article_snippet.sent: Add to this the fact that climate change has been recognized by the World Health Organization as the number one health issue of the 21st century, and this behooves us to do a better job with emissions.'