Change is needed now

  

A new study finds  locked-in global warming, from carbon pollution already in the air, is enough to exceed international agreed upon goals to limit climate change. While that amount of warming may be inevitable, it can be delayed for centuries if the world quickly stops emitting extra greenhouse gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, the study’s authors say.

Scientists have talked about so-called “committed warming” or the increase in future temperature based on past carbon dioxide emissions that stay in the atmosphere for well over a century. It’s like the distance a speeding car travels after the brakes are applied. But the study in the journal Nature Climate Change calculates that a bit differently and now figures the carbon pollution already put in the air will push global temperatures to about 2.3 degrees Celsius (4.1 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming since pre-industrial times. Previous estimates, including those accepted by international science panels, were about a degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) less than that amount of committed warming. Previous studies were based on the cooler spots staying that way, but the new research say that’s not likely.

“You’ve got some ... global warming inertia that’s going to cause the. climate system to keep warming, and that’s essentially what we’re calculating,” said study co-author Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University. “Think about the climate system like the Titanic. It’s hard to turn the ship when you see the icebergs.”

Breakthrough Institute climate scientist Zeke Hausfather said the new work fits better with climate models than observational data.

Dessler, cautioned against those he called “climate doomers.”

Just because the world is bound to get more warming than international goals, that doesn’t mean all is lost in the fight against global warming. If the world gets to net zero carbon emissions soon, 2 degrees of global warming could be delayed enough so that it won’t happen for centuries, giving society time to adapt or even come up with technological fixes.

“If we don’t, we’re going to blow through (climate goals) in a few decades,” Dessler said. “It’s really the rate of warming that makes climate change so terrible. If we got a few degrees over 100,000 years, that would not be that big a deal. We can deal with that. But a few degrees over 100 years is really bad.”

Study: Warming already baked in will blow past climate goals (apnews.com)