While the Paris Agreement goals expected to eliminate carbon emissions to hold the surface temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius or 2 degree Celsius, the emission-induced temperatures of the past five years have inched the planet even closer to 1.5 degree than previously anticipated. New research stated that earth may be closer to global climate catastrophe than earlier thought.
Global carbon emissions have warmed the earth by 18 percent more than earlier believed, which has raised concerns over the prospect of the world having less time to meet the goals set in the Paris Agreement and avoid the impending climatic catastrophe.
A new research stated that earth may be closer to global climate catastrophe than earlier thought | Image: Times of India
The average temperature is believed to have reached about 1.07 degrees Celsius since industrial times, which is up from a previous estimate of 0.91 degrees Celsius. This new update reveals that the true temperature rise is at an increased level than previous ranges. The finding suggests that governments have even less time to control carbon emissions to keep the temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius and 2 degree Celsius under the Paris Agreement; besides, the current approximates of future warming may rise too.
The IPCC have overestimated the available carbon budget through choices that tend to underestimate the warming we’ve already experienced. That of course means that there is a lot more work to do if we are to avert dangerous warming.
Says Michael Mann at Pennsylvania State University.
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The new research may proficiently lessen the world’s carbon budget, the amount that can be released without breaking temperature goals. In 2018, the UN’s climate science panel, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said that global carbon emissions need to approximately cut up to 50 percent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050 to have a two-thirds chance of staying under 1.5 degrees Celsius. It is difficult to calculate the impact of the new research on that timeline.
Nonetheless, no research can change the plight of the planet. The bottom line is the globe is warming, the climate is changing and human activities are to be held responsible for these changes that can alter the entire life course on this planet.