The world will inevitably cross the 1.5°C global warming threshold compared with pre-industrial levels. Decades of insufficient action against climate change have made it impossible to avoid this scenario. This is stated in a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), reports UNN.
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Experts emphasize that further government decisions will determine how far and for how long temperatures exceed the critical threshold. Under a favorable scenario, humanity may still limit maximum warming to 1.7–1.8°C.
This does not mean that we are giving up. We can still limit warming to 1.7–1.8 degrees. Every tenth of a degree increases climate impacts such as devastating floods, heatwaves and wildfires
Humanity will have to drastically cut emissions
According to UN estimates, every additional fraction of a degree increases the risk of irreversible changes, including melting glaciers, the release of carbon from permafrost, disruption of ocean currents and the destruction of coral ecosystems.
To curb warming, global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 18% by 2030, by 45% by 2035 and by 69% by 2040 compared with 2025 levels.
At the same time, countries’ current climate commitments envisage significantly smaller reductions — only 5–8% by 2030 and 11–15% by 2035.