‘Overshoot’: As planet crosses 1.5°C global warming limit, can we still reverse course?
The past two years were the first to officially exceed the 1.5°C temperature threshold for global warming that countries in the Paris Agreement pledged to avoid. Could geoengineering provide a solution to reverse the trend and lower temperatures?
A milestone has been reached: 2024 was the warmest year ever recorded and the past two years were the first to exceed a 1.5°C temperature increase compared with pre-industrial levels, the European Union's Copernicus climate observatory announced on January 10.
The news is symbolic. Since 2015, the Paris Agreement has aimed to keep rising global temperatures below this limit in order to reduce the impacts of human-driven climate change.
In the treaty, such an increase is referred to as a long-term climate trend – the average temperature would have to remain above the 1.5°C threshold for 20 to 30 years for the limit to be officially considered exceeded. But the figures for 2024 – which recorded a 1.6°C increase overall – have raised fears that the target may now be altogether unattainable.
But, is there a way to turn back the clock and return to a more liveable climate? Faced with the failure to keep global temperatures below 1.5°C, is it possible to overstep that limit and then reverse the trend?
Read more on FRANCE 24 English
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