The world's chances of limiting warming to 1.5C are “virtually zero.”
Current climate policy will lead to a global temperature increase that is more than double what was agreed upon almost a decade ago limit.
The UN's annual report claims that the world is at risk of warming between 2.6 and 3.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100, Politico reports.
The severity and frequency of dangerous heat waves, destructive storms and other extreme events increases with each fraction of warming.
With a 3 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures, scientists say the world could pass several tipping points, causing dramatic changes to the planet's climate and raising sea levels, for example, due to the collapse of the polar ice caps.
“If countries fail to meet their current commitments, the Paris Agreement's goal of “the world's strategy of limiting global warming to 1.5C will no longer be viable in a few years, and 2C will take its place in the intensive care unit,” said Inger Andersen, head of the UN Environment Division.
The world is already 1.3C hotter than before the Industrial Revolution, and emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases continue to rise, up 1.3 percent last year compared to 2022.
Even the best-case scenario of 2.6C means catastrophic warming with “devastating consequences for people, the planet and the economy,” the UN warns.
The report's authors say that under all scenarios, the world's chances of limiting warming to 1.5C are “virtually equal zero”.
Recall that Antarctica is experiencing rapid greening caused by climate change.
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