NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — Environmentalists say the planet has just five years left to avoid catastrophic climate change.
The target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial times, set in the 2015 Paris Agreement, is becoming imminent by early 2029, scientists said. This will happen if global greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced.
The study, published in Nature Climate Change, claims the planet has just 250 billion metric tons of carbon left in its residual carbon budget to meet this goal. This number is much lower than previously thought and means we are reaching a tipping point.
Smokey aerosol pollutants that previously cooled the planet are now being removed from the atmosphere. This is a positive step in the fight against pollution, but it also accelerates the warming process. This means that climate change is becoming much faster than expected.
According to the UN report, reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming will lead to an increase in extreme weather conditions, the destruction of coral reefs, the melting of key ice sheets and water shortages. All this will have serious consequences for life on the planet.
Scientists stress that while 1.5 degrees of warming appears inevitable, greenhouse gas emissions must be urgently reduced to avoid more catastrophic consequences. For 2 degrees of warming, that leaves 1,220 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases, which environmentalists predict will happen in 30 years.
Study leader Robin Lamboll cautions that while the exact timing of 1.5 degrees of warming may vary, it will happen within a matter of years.
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News agencies contributed to this report, edited and published by ORDO News editors.
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