Planet on track for 8 degrees warming as fossil fuels burn
At the Paris Climate Summit world leaders agreed to try and limit global warming to 1.5-2 degrees. But new research out today says we’re on track to warming of up to 8 degrees – which will be catastrophic for human life.
The climate modelling released by Canada’s University of Victoria is the most complex run by scientists to-date, and they say we’ve been underestimating just how much continuing to burn fossil fuels will impact on the planet.
The difference is due to a more complex Earth System Model being used, which takes into account more environmental effects, while assuming that mankind continues to burn the remaining fossil fuels without much restriction. As ice melts, land mass, and the darker, less reflective surfaces of the ocean are exposed. Less light is reflected, more heat is absorbed, and the planet gets hotter.
It’s a worse case scenario, and a very sobering one.