(VOVWORLD) - Climate change is accelerating and the world will cross the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold this decade, according to research published on Thursday on science journal Oxford Open Climate Change.
 Drought reduces grassland in Walgett, Australia to soil crust. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
Countries pledged in the 2015 Paris Agreement to hold global warming to within 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures but the new paper by a team of scientists, including from NASA and Columbia University, adds to evidence suggesting that this goal is already out of reach.
Most emissions scenarios under the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) envision the world breaching 1.5C during the 2030s. The world already has warmed by nearly 1.2C (2.2F) above preindustrial temperatures.
Earlier this week, research published in the journal Nature Climate Change suggested the world would need to reach net zero emissions by 2034 for a 50% chance of containing warming to 1.5C - far sooner than the global goal of 2050.