Rising CO2 Emissions Will Increase Global Temperatures By Over 1.5˚C

The Paris Agreement had proposed a goal limit of 1.5˚C for global temperature increase. However, even if humanity does the impossible and builds no additional factories, vehicles, power plants, and appliances anymore, the current CO2 emissions are on track to increase the global temperatures by more than 1.5˚C, thereby going beyond the limit set.

A paper published in Nature today cautions that existing CO2 emissions are set to generate approximately 660 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases while only 580 billion metric tons of greenhouse gasses are required to go past the 1.5˚C limit.

That’s not even the end of bad news. If the existing power plants are kept running for as long as their operational life permits and new facilities continue to be built, they will emit two-thirds of the CO2 needed to increase global temperatures by 2˚C.

Technology Review mentions that an increase of 1.5˚C in global temperatures has the potential to melt almost 2 million square miles of Arctic permafrost, thus leading to the destruction of over 70 percent of the coral reefs across the globe. That will also expose 14 percent of the entire global population to severe heat waves. The paper cautions that the world has to reach net zero emissions by 2050 in order to stabilize global temperatures.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Green