Dear MEL Topic Readers,
World's first year-long breach of key 1.5C warming limit
At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris in 2015, it was
agreed by 196 parties to limit long-term warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial
levels, before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels. As the whole
world witnessed and experienced extreme heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and
floods last year, the impacts of global warming are significant. In fact, global
warming has exceeded 1.5C across the last 12 months, according to the EU’s
climate service. Also, ocean temperatures are now the highest on record, partly
due to El Niño conditions. Scientists predict that further and consistent
temperature rises will surely increase the risks of catastrophic and
irreversible climate change. There also are underlying changes occurring in the
oceans, waters, and ice in polar regions, whose impacts are yet to be seen. The
good news is that if the current policies and pledges to reduce the use of
fossil fuel emissions are achieved, the world still might be able to avoid passing
tipping points. We’re already there but we can still reverse the course to avoid
the climate threshold if we act now but not later.
Read the article and learn about the first 12 months that exceeded the 1.5C
temperature increase limit.
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