If the Paris Agreement Fails, Sea Levels Could Rise 10 Metres
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Photo: Chris Larsen, AP
If we keep on the path we’re on, Antarctica might be really, truly toast. A new study shows that the continent might hit a tipping point within this century if we don’t keep warming in check, and we might be in for dozens of feat of sea level rise as a result.
The study, published on Wednesday in Nature, uses computer models to see how the Antarctic ice sheet would respond if the globe warmed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) and 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) the targets set out in the Paris Agreement by 2100. It also looked at what 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) of heating by the end of the century, which is what the world is on track for right now under current commitments to the Paris Agreeement, could look like.
Every day I’m inundated with fresh news of businesses and governments declaring new deadlines for when they’ll reach net zero emissions. The announcement of one climate target in particular caught my attention recently, for the simple fact that I and my colleagues in the Climate Change Committee – the independent body of experts established to advise the UK government on climate action – helped design it.
Under the Climate Change Act of 2008, the UK government must set five-year emission reduction targets, otherwise known as carbon budgets. By adopting the advice in our sixth carbon budget, the government set a new legally-binding target to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.