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COP28 must stick to 1.5°C target to save ice sheets, urge scientists

A report warns that 2°C of global warming would mean losing most of the world’s ice sheets and glaciers, leading to catastrophic sea level rise

By Alec Luhn, 16 November 2023

The world must stick to its target to limit climate warming to 1.5°C to avoid catastrophic melting of ice sheets and glaciers, according to a report.

The International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI), a group of scientists who study ice-covered parts of the world, warns that a rise of 2°C would liquidate most tropical and mid-latitude glaciers and set off long-term melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, leading to 12 to 20 metres of sea level rise.

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, all countries committed to holding global average temperature to “well below 2°C” over pre-industrial levels and “pursuing efforts” to limit it to 1.5°C. Our still-rising greenhouse gas emissions have already caused almost 1.2°C of warming and put us on track to exceed 3°C.

More than 350 cryosphere scientists have signed an open letter calling on countries to commit to the 1.5°C limit at the upcoming COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

“From the cryosphere point of view, 1.5°C is not simply preferable to 2°C or higher. It is the only option,” Iceland’s prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir said in a statement.

Earth’s regions of snow and ice are melting faster than we expected and already approaching tipping points, says Jonathan Bamber at the University of Bristol, UK, who reviewed the ICCI report, while otherspoint to the rapid uptake of solar and wind energy as reason for continued hope.  https://www.newscientist.com/article/2403404-cop28-must-stick-to-1-5c-target-to-save-ice-sheets-urge-scientists/

November 27, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ARCTIC, climate change