Earth's Climate Crisis: Urgent Action Needed to Prevent Key Warming Threshold by 2029

A new study warns that the carbon budget for limiting global warming to 1.5°C will be exhausted before 2030 if current emission rates continue. The risk of climate catastrophes, such as coral reef loss, irreversible ice sheet melting, water shortages, heatwaves, and extreme weather-related deaths, increases beyond this temperature limit. The study attributes the accelerated timeline to progress in reducing aerosol pollution, which slightly cools the planet but masks the effects of burning fossil fuels. While the world has approximately six years left in the carbon budget, starting from January 2023, the study suggests that if emissions are not significantly reduced by then, it may be too late to achieve the 1.5°C target. However, the authors emphasize that running out of the carbon budget does not mean the only time left to address global warming, as efforts to limit warming to 1.6 or 1.7 degrees are still crucial.