A team of scientists has warned we could be reaching a number of tipping points that might trigger runaway heating and a devastating and ‘disruptive’ future for humanity
Earth is teetering on the brink of a climate “point of no return” and scientists reckon we may be far closer than anyone thought. If global heating keeps rising, it could trip a series of climate tipping points that unleash a chain reaction. The end result would be a brutal “hothouse Earth” far beyond the 2-3C rise the planet is currently heading for.
That future would look nothing like the stable climate of the last 11,000 years, the conditions in which human civilisation grew and thrived. Researchers say the risk of crossing this irreversible threshold is not widely understood by the public or politicians.
“Crossing even some of the thresholds could commit the planet to a hothouse trajectory. Policymakers and the public remain largely unaware of the risks posed by what would effectively be a point-of-no-return transition,” said Wolf.
He added: “It’s likely that global temperatures are [already] as warm as, or warmer than, at any point in the last 125,000 years and that climate change is advancing faster than many scientists predicted.”
Carbon dioxide levels are also likely at their highest in at least two million years, according to the team. The study, published in the journal One Earth, pulls together the latest science on climate feedback loops and 16 so-called tipping elements.
Read more: Daily Star
