Climate change is accelerating at a faster rate than world experts predicted and will cause global devastation unless immediate action is taken, a new report claims.

And 'extreme weather events' like the hot summer of 2003, which caused 35,000 deaths across Europe due to heat stress and bad air quality, will happen more frequently, it says.

The report found the Arctic Ocean is losing sea ice 30 or more years ahead of the projections put forward by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007.

If the trend continues all summer sea ice could disappear within five years - a state not seen on the planet for more than a million years.

This would be the first 'tipping point' paving the way to 'rapid and abrupt climate change' rather than gradual changes, according to the bleak WWF study.

The WWF report 'Climate Change: Faster, stronger, sooner' also predicts global crop failure, with more frequent flooding in northern Europe and long-term droughts in the Mediterranean region. The number and intensity of extreme cyclones over the UK and North Sea are also expected to increase.

The WWF, formerly the World Wildlife Fund, issued their report to coincide with a meeting of EU environment ministers to discuss new laws to tackle climate change.

They called on the EU to work towards zero net emissions by 2050 to try to stop global temperature rising more than 2C. The first step would be to reduce emissions to 30 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

However, at present Britain is the only country that has committed to an 80 per cent cut in emissions by 2050. The Government claims this can be achieved through renewable energy and a new generation of power stations.

Other European countries including Poland and Italy have rejected

一份新的研究报告声称,全球气候正在剧烈变化,该变化的速度超过了之前专家们的估计,如果不采取直接有效的行动，将会造成巨大灾难.

它还指出,类似于2003年那样酷热夏天的极端气候现象将更频繁的出现,那年夏天,整个欧洲共有35000人死于热应力和不良空气质量.

该研究发现,早在IPCC2007指出该问题之前的30年或者更早,北冰洋就开始逐渐失去海冰了。

如果这种趋势持续发展,所有的夏季海冰将在五年内消失----一百多万年后,这个星球上将会有一个大陆消失.

根据WWF的研究显示,这将是铺就"气候骤变"之路的首个"惊爆点".

WWF报告气候的变化:"更快,更强,",同时它还预测,由于欧洲北部频繁的水灾和地中海地区长期的干旱,全球粮食产量将会减产.发生在英国和北海地区飓风的数量和强度也将会增加.

WWF,其前身是世界野生动物基金会,发布他们的报告与欧共体环境部长会议相符谈论新的法律应付气候变化.

他们呼吁欧共体在2050年实现0净排放的目标,努力将全球气温升高控制在两度以内.第一步将减少排放量,到2020年,将排放量减少到低于1990年水平的30%.

可是,目前只有英国致力于实现到2050年减少80%排放量的目标.政府声称,通过可再生能源和使用新一代的电站可以实现上述目标.

其他的欧洲国家，包括波兰和意大利,持反对意见.