The Dalai Lama and 100 other Nobel laureates called on world leaders to stop the expansion of oil, gas, and coal, urging them to act immediately to prevent a climate catastrophe.

The open letter describes the burning of fossil fuels as by far the main driver of climate change.

The importance of both the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 2015 Paris Agreement is highlighted. 

The agreement aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and, ideally, limit any increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.

The letter says that failure to meet the target of 1.5 degrees could push the world towards catastrophic global warming.

The authors note the enormous amount of work required to achieve the targets and point out that 120% more coal, oil and gas will be produced by 2030.

It concludes that allowing further expansion of the fossil fuel industry is unacceptable. The fossil fuel system is global and requires a global solution that the Climate Leaders Summit should strive for.