This is what could happen if the Paris climate change talks fail

World leaders and negotiators descended on Paris this week for one of the most important climate change summits in history.

The UN wants to ensure that the world agrees to limiting carbon consumption so that globally temperatures do not exceed another two degrees Celsius.

Warming of more than two degrees will cause Antarctica's glaciers to melt even further, and experts have warned again and again that this will have catastrophic knock-on effects on the rest of the world.

A recent report from Climate Central estimates that up to 280million people live in areas of land that will be totally submerged by just a two degree rise.

China emits more carbon than any other nation - and also has the most to lose of any country by not committing to climate goals, since 64million people live on implicated land.

Shanghai, China's most populous city, also leads the list of global megacities with the greatest percentage of its population at risk from flooding. An increase of just 2C will raise sea levels in the city by 5m.

China suffers from chronic levels of poisonous smog. In Beijing this week, air pollution levels were 20 times higher than the safe levels determined by the World Health Organisation.

Closer to home, the European Environment Agency has found that air pollution mostly related to burning fuel in factories, power stations and vehicles poses the single largest environmental health risk in Europe today.

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