Scientists Are Skeptical Political Leaders Can Meet Climate Goal
Climate negotiators inserted a dramatic charge in the 2015 Paris accord, asking world leaders to strive to keep global temperatures at just 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Now new studies have begun to sketch out what the tighter target -- compared to the longtime benchmark goal of 2 degrees (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) -- actually means. Their overall message to climate envoys meeting in Bonn, Germany this week: Better get cracking.
“We would need an incredibly dramatic reduction in emissions in the very near future,” said Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist with Berkeley Earth. He called the 1.5 degree target “a little ridiculous and implausible.”
photo credit: Dai Luo