As per the data by the UN weather agency on Thursday, 9 July, the world could see average global temperatures rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average for the first time in the coming five years.
According to the scientists, due to the man-made greenhouse emissions, the average annual temperature around the world is already at least 1C higher now than the temperature during the pre-industrial period (from 1850-1900).
The Actual 1.5°C mark is the level to which the countries have agreed to try to limit global warming, if possible in the 2015 Paris Accord, which set a goal of keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius and ideally not more than 1.5 degrees C.
At this level consequences related to global warming become more severe, difficult, and expensive to adapt to, protect ourselves from and control a further increase in temperature.
What Reports are Saying?
According to The World Meteorological Organization in its Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update for 2020-24 report on Thursday that there is about 20% chance that the 1.5° C level will exceed in at least one year between 2020 and 2024.
The Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update is led by the United Kingdom’s Met Office, which uses computer models from leading climate centres around the world to make projections annually for policymakers.
There is a 70% chance that the 1.5 degrees mark will be exceeding in a single month between 2020 and 2024, said Geneva-based WMO. During the five year period, it is expected that the annual average temperatures may rise to 0.91° C to 1.59° C, higher than the pre-industrial average’s.
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The consequences of breaching the 1.5° C mark include 70% loss of corals and loss of half of the habitat of insects including food pollinators, by the end of the century. This could lead to food security issues along with increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
WMO also added that the models used for the forecast do not take into account the impact that the Coronavirus pandemic might have on reducing the emission of planet-warming gases such as carbon dioxide.
The report shows that with a high level of scientific skills- “enormous challenge” countries are facing to meet its goals of 2015 Paris accord- said Petteri Taalas, WMO Secretary-General.
Taalas said, “The industrial and economic slowdown from COVID-19 is not a substitute for sustained and coordinated climate action.”
“Due to the very long lifetime of CO2 in the atmosphere, the impact of the drop in emissions this year is not expected to lead to a reduction of CO2 atmospheric concentrations which are driving global temperature increases,” he further said.
Source: The Logical Indian
