Related Post
In a new report issued by the United Nations Environment Program on November 20, a team of experts in climate science announced that the measures currently taken by the countries of the world are not sufficient to stop the increase in average global temperatures at a limit of 1.5 degrees during the current century, and it has become It is likely, day by day, that this century will end with a rise of 2.9 degrees Celsius.
This comes in the context of the entire world experiencing a worrying acceleration in the number, speed, and size of climate records broken. In 2023 alone, 86 days were recorded with temperatures exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial era levels. September was the hottest month on record.
These temperature rises were accompanied by devastating extreme events that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned were just “the beginning” of a greater future catastrophe.
The following video shows where we are headed as emissions continue to increase and temperatures exceed the expected limit:
What will happen when the temperature increases by 2.9 degrees?
The average citizen thinks that a rise in temperatures above the average by 2.9 degrees Celsius means that the temperature in the summer will become about 38 degrees after the average was 35, but this is completely wrong, as the rise in average temperatures will cause a complete imbalance in the climate and environmental system.
For example, this will cause the rates, intensity and duration of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, floods, storms and wildfires to double, and sea levels worldwide will rise by up to one meter by the end of the century, threatening coastal cities.
In addition, the Earth will lose up to 40% of the Amazon rainforest, which will trap more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, affecting all forms of life from coral reefs and fisheries to the rice and wheat we eat.
All this and we did not talk about the dangers of water scarcity, disease outbreaks, migration, internal and external conflicts, and what is worse is that there are turning points that, if the world crosses them, will lead to catastrophic and irreversible changes in the climate system, such as the melting of the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, and the disturbance of water currents in the oceans.
Report results
The report finds that global greenhouse gas emissions increased by 1.2% from 2021 to 2022 to reach a new record of 57.4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide.
Greenhouse gas emissions are expected to increase in 2030 by 16%, although for the path of the 2015 Paris Agreement it was assumed that the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere would be reduced by 42% for the path of maintaining a temperature reduction of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The report indicates that it is still possible to stop the 1.5 degree increase in average temperatures, but it will require uprooting the main root of the climate crisis, which is fossil fuels.
The report calls on all countries to accelerate development transitions towards a low-carbon economy, and countries that emit more will need to take greater action and support developing countries in their quest to avoid climate disasters that they did not cause.
