11 looming climate tipping points that imperil our planet

New reports detail the thresholds we may be close to crossing

Melting glacier.
The rate at which glaciers are melting is rapidly approaching a tipping point
(Image credit: Stephane Godin / Getty Images)

The world is rapidly approaching the "brink of multiple risk tipping points," the United Nations said in its 2023 Interconnected Disaster Risks report. Risk tipping points, the U.N. said, are "when the systems that we rely on for our lives and societies cannot buffer risks and stop functioning." Throw in accelerating climate change, and "the very practical consequence will be that much more people will live under very precarious conditions — so loss of life, loss of livelihood and loss of opportunities," Zita Sebesvari, one of the lead authors of the report, said to the Los Angeles Times. "It does have cascading impacts." 

A new report by the University of Exeter Global Systems Institute specifically pointed to three broad areas where tipping points are concentrated: the cryosphere, the biosphere and the ocean and atmosphere. The world is soon to meet several tipping points but we can still "take decisive actions to avert the worst of these impacts, and perhaps even forge a new path toward a bright, sustainable and equitable future," the U.N. report said.

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Devika Rao, The Week US

 Devika Rao has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022, covering science, the environment, climate and business. She previously worked as a policy associate for a nonprofit organization advocating for environmental action from a business perspective.