Carbon emissions, global warming and sea level rise-almost all key indicators of climate change have now reached unknown and dangerous levels. More than 60 leading scientists have given this warning in a scientific report published on Thursday (June 19).
The report said that greenhouse gas emissions due to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation reached a new high in 2024. Currently, an average of 53.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent is being emitted every year. That is, about one hundred thousand tons every minute. In 2023, the average surface temperature of the Earth exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era for the first time. According to scientists, the carbon budget that humanity had to stay below this limit will be exhausted within the next two years.
Although the use of environmentally friendly fuels has increased, it has not yet become an alternative to fossil fuels in meeting global energy needs. Fossil fuels currently account for 80 percent of the world’s energy use. “This update clearly shows that we are on the wrong track in every important indicator,” said Piers Forster, lead researcher at the Priestley Centre at the University of Leeds.
Meanwhile, the rate of sea level rise has also increased alarmingly. Since 2019, the average sea level has been rising by 4.3 mm per year, more than double the average rate from 1901 to 2018. In the past 125 years, sea levels have risen by about 23 centimeters. According to previous studies, a further 20 centimeters by 2050 could cause about $1 trillion in annual flood damage to 136 coastal cities around the world.
Scientists have also expressed concern about the world’s energy balance. In the past 20 years, the world’s so-called energy imbalance has doubled—meaning that much less heat is being reflected back into space than the amount of solar energy reaching the planet. So far, the oceans have been absorbing 90 percent of this heat, but it is not known how long the oceans can carry this burden.
Joery Rogelz, a climate expert at Imperial College London, said the next three to four decades could be the peak of warming. We are already in that critical period.
The study, which is essentially an informal scientific update conducted under the IPCC’s approved procedures, is being seen as a wake-up call to world leaders ahead of the COP30 conference in November. “We will quickly reach the 1.5 degree limit—but what happens after that depends on the decisions we make today,” said former IPCC vice-chair Valerie Mason-Delmotte. “This report makes it clear-there is no room for further delay,” said Sir David King, the UK’s former chief scientific adviser.
Source: AFP