14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday, researchers with the Climate Action Tracker made some very disturbing statements. Long story short, they argued that the world was well on track to get at least 3.7 degrees Celsius (6.66 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter by the end of the century.
They also said that, all things considered, there was a one-in-three chance that global warming would exceed 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100 and that, should global coal consumption up by six times its current value, it could happen that global warming would reach an impressive 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit).
Needless to say, this increase in global average temperature will have a devastating effect on natural ecosystems and human society.
The specialists now saying that the world will fail to limit global warming to just 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century base their claims on recent developments concerning climate action.
More precisely, they argue that, if their scenarios become reality, this will happen chiefly because of weak government action on climate change.
Thus, the researchers argue that, although high officials worldwide have promised time and time again that they would implement measures intended to curb emissions and limit global warming and climate change, what is actually being done is by no means enough to yield the expected results.
“For the first time, we analyzed whether currently implemented government policies are sufficient to meet their pledges and find that significant and very diverse action is happening, but still not sufficient,” explains specialist Niklas Höhne.
“Instead of strong domestic policies to meet ambitious pledges, we’re seeing a weakening of action, and a degradation of pledges,” he adds.
What he means is that, judging by the climate policies that the world's 24 biggest emitters currently have in place, there is no way that global warming will be limited to 2 degrees Celsius. On the contrary, it is quite likely that it will hit 3.7 degrees Celsius.
More so given the fact that, just days ago, Japan announced that it had greatly lowered its emissions reduction target, and Australia went public with the news that it was considering ending its carbon tax.
“We are seeing a major risk of a further downward spiral in ambition, a retreat from action, and a re-carbonization of the energy system led by the use of coal. Governments are taking a ‘bottom up’ approach to climate action, unilaterally degrading their pledges without review,” warns Bill Hare, director of Climate Analytics.