An increased 2 degree Celsius world will not be liveable for vast swathes of humanity – but that’s the latest semi-optimistic research result

Christiana Figueres: Should we feel joy or despair that we’re on track to keep global heating to 2C? The atmosphere does not react to pledges for the future or reports about past achievements. It only reacts to real emission reductions. The research published in Nature last week showing that the pledges by countries to reduce emissions made since the Paris agreement could keep warming within 2C, if met on time, has therefore understandably sparked a series of conflicting reactions. Outrage that even if the promises are met, they don’t come close to 1.5C; and optimism that 2C is such a huge improvement on where we’d be headed without the Paris agreement. On the one hand, we have to acknowledge this looks very much like failure. A 2C world will not be liveable for vast swathes of humanity, and half of the world’s children are already at extremely high risk from the impacts now, including hunger-inducing floods and droughts. Guardian 19th April 2022 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/19/global-heating-2c-climate-paris-agreement |
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