The goal of limiting global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit — or 1.5 degrees Celsius — is likely out of reach, according to a new United Nations climate report released Monday.
The New York Times reported that humans have already increased global temperatures by an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
"Holding warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius," the Times notes, "would require nations to collectively reduce their planet-warming emissions roughly 43 percent by 2030," an unlikely outcome given that "current policies ... are only expected to reduce global emissions by a few percentage points this decade."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Last year, a report in the Lancet medical journal compiled by over 100 doctors and health experts concluded that climate change is "the greatest global health threat facing the world in the 21st century," driving increases in heat deaths, insect-borne diseases, flooding, and wildfires.
Per the Times, the assessment, which was compiled by 278 experts from 65 countries and approved by 195 governments, also offers glimmers of hope by acknowledging the rapid growth of green technology and the slower growth rates of global fossil fuel emissions.
Writing for The Week last year, columnist Samuel Goldman despaired over the idea of international climate negotiations making a substantive difference, writing they "are based on a deeply naive understanding of collective action."
"Apart from the legal dimensions of sovereignty, there is no global agency capable of forcing recalcitrant states to accept obligations they don't choose or enforcing those they fail to meet. Australia won't be invaded because it refused a symbolic commitment to ending coal production," Goldman wrote.
-
How are these Epstein files so damaging to Trump?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As Republicans and Democrats release dueling tranches of Epstein-related documents, the White House finds itself caught in a mess partially of its own making
-
Margaret Atwood’s memoir, intergenerational trauma and the fight to make spousal rape a crime: Welcome to November booksThe Week Recommends This month's new releases include ‘Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts’ by Margaret Atwood, ‘Cursed Daughters’ by Oyinkan Braithwaite and 'Without Consent' by Sarah Weinman
-
‘Tariffs are making daily life less affordable now’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Blue Origin launches Mars probes in NASA debutSpeed Read The New Glenn rocket is carrying small twin spacecraft toward Mars as part of NASA’s Escapade mission
-
Why scientists are attempting nuclear fusionThe Explainer Harnessing the reaction that powers the stars could offer a potentially unlimited source of carbon-free energy, and the race is hotting up
-
Dinosaurs were thriving before asteroid, study findsSpeed Read The dinosaurs would not have gone extinct if not for the asteroid
-
Canyons under the Antarctic have deep impactsUnder the radar Submarine canyons could be affecting the climate more than previously thought
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th testspeed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
NASA is moving away from tracking climate changeThe Explainer Climate missions could be going dark
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
