The pace of global heating has been significantly underestimated, one of the most popular climate scientists – Prof James Hansen – recently noted. He highlighted that the international climate change target of 2 degrees Celsius is “dead”.
The analysis noted that global heating is likely to reach 2C by 2045, unless solar geoengineering is deployed. In 2015, scores of countries pledged in Paris to pursue efforts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The Earth has seen extraordinary temperatures in the past couple of years. The peak of the El Nino climate cycle added a substantial temperature boost. But the primary reason is the relentless rise in carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
