The Climate Crisis And The Tipping Point

What Does '12 Years to Act on Climate Change' (Now 11 Years) Really Mean? It doesn't mean the world can wait until 2030 to cut greenhouse gas emissions, or that chaos will erupt in 2030. Here's what the science shows.

Bob Berwyn, August 27, 2019 (Inside Climate News)

“…[The idea that the climate crisis fight must be turned by 2030] began drawing attention in 2018…[The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report showed that to cut carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by around 2050,] emissions would have to start dropping ‘well before 2030’ and be on a path to fall by about 45 percent by around 2030…Mid-century is actually the more significant target date in the report, but acting now is crucial to being able to meet that goal…[That is clear in basic] physics and climate science…[It is a misrepresentation to conclude life can continue] normally for the next 11 years and then the world ends…

click to enlarge

[The 2030 target shows] what success looks like rather than what failure means…[It shows the importance of investment now] in a new global energy infrastructure…Missing the target doesn't imply the onset of cataclysmic climate change in 2030…Things just keep getting worse…[with] more dangerous and costly disruptions to global societies and ecosystems, including longer, hotter heat waves and more frequent crop-killing droughts…In some ways, the ‘12 years’ narrative may set up a deadline that's too lenient, because some key part of the climate system may already be at or past tipping points…The world will still exist if we breach 1.5°C and 2°C…[but] impacts and risks will be higher and the temperature will be higher…[but we] should have started mitigating decades ago…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet