Weather & Science
It’s ‘Virtually Certain’ the World Has Already Breached 1.5C
Two new studies reveal that last year’s record heat is a sign that burning fossil fuels has already pushed the climate past a key threshold.
A structure burns during the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles.
Photographer: Kyle Grillot/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The world may have already missed its chance to limit global warming to 1.5C, according to two new studies in Nature Climate Change.
The Paris Agreement was inked in 2015, with 196 countries agreeing to rein in greenhouse gas emissions to keep the global average temperature increase to “well below” 2C and ideally cap it at 1.5C compared to pre-industrial times. The new analyses show the world will surpass the latter, underscoring the urgent need to cut carbon emissions.