The Climate Clock Is Ticking

The World May Have Less Time to Address Climate Change Than Scientists Thought; A new global temperature baseline casts doubt on humanity's ability to meet the Paris target

Scott Waldman, July 25, 2017 (E&E News via Scientific American)

“… [The preindustrial level of atmospheric CO2 used in the Paris agreement, based on temperature records from the late 19th century, doesn't account for a potential century of rising temperatures caused by carbon dioxide emissions…[and accounting] for those gases, released from about 1750 to 1875, would add another one-fifth of a degree to the baseline temperature, [according to Importance of the pre-industrial baseline for likelihood of exceeding Paris goals…[T]he research suggests there's less time than previously believed to address global warming…[It] estimates that there may have already been 0.2 degree Celsius of warming, or 0.36 degree Fahrenheit, built into Earth…[which] means the Paris Agreement would have to be more aggressive…Before the age of industrialization, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide was about 280 parts per million (ppm)…The early decades of industrialization, fueled by economic growth in Europe, may have added 30 to 40 ppm of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere…Now, atmospheric CO2 is rising at a record pace and is already at 410 ppm. It's expected to climb for decades…” click here for more

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