UN report: The world is whiffing on its biggest climate goal - vox.com
A new UN report indicates that the world is on track to exceed the 1.5-degree Celsius warming limit within the next few years. Current policies suggest a trajectory toward 2.6 degrees of warming by 2100, necessitating a shift toward climate adaptation strategies.
Why it matters
This report highlights the failure of international climate goals and underscores the urgent need for both emission reductions and infrastructure adaptation.
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For more than a decade, 1.5 degrees Celsius has been the watchword — er, watch temperature? — of climate policy. If the world could hold warming at that level, it could stave off some of climate change’s worst effects, researchers believed.
Well…there’s bad news on that front. A major new assessment from the United Nations concludes the world will inevitably pass the 1.5-degree benchmark within the next few years, barring some celestial intervention. Under current policies, we’re on track to hit 2.6 degrees of warming between now and 2100. And while that’s not quite a Mad Max scenario, it will very much change how humans live. (More on that in just a minute!)
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